LIBRARY 

OF  THE 

University  of  California. 

Mrs.  SAI^AH  P.  WALSWORTH. 

Received  October,  i8g4. 
Accessions  No.^^OS^*      Class  No. 


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EXPOSITION  OF   THE   MYSTERIES, 


OR 


RELIGIOUS   DOGMAS  AND    CUSTOMS       \ 

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OF  THE   ANCIENT  ^ 

I 

i 
EGYPTIANS,    PYTHAGOREANS,    AND    DRUIDS.  i 

1 

also:  an  inquiry  into  the    originj  history,  and  purport  of        I 

i 
FREEMASONRY.  'l 


BY  JOHN  FELLOWS,  A.  M 


L'Unity  de  Dieu  etait  le  grand  Dogme  de  tous  les  Mysteres. 


NEW-YORK 


PRINTED    FOR    THE    AUTHOR,    AND    SOLK    I'Y    GoULD,    BANK^    AND    CO 


sin>s^ 


Enteeed  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1835,  by  John  Fellows,  in  the 
Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  United  States  for  the  Southern  District  of 
New- York. 


EXPLANATION  OF  THE  FRONTISPIECE. 


The  two  Pillars  represent  two  imaginary  columns,  supposed  to  be  placed  at  the 
equinoxes,  to  support  the  heavens.  The  one  on  the  left  is  called  Boaz,  and  indicates 
Osiris,  or  the  Sun :  the  one  on  the  right  is  called  Jachin,  and  designates  Isis,  the  sym- 
bol, both  of  the  earth  and  its  productions,  and  of  the  Moon. 

The  Arch,  supported  by  the  two  pillars,  is  a  representation  of  the  semicircle  made 
by  the  apparent  course  of  the  sun  in  the  upper  hemisphere,  from  Aries  to  Libra  inclu- 
sive; from  whence  originates  the  name  of  the  royal  arch  degree  of  masonry. 

TTie  Seven  Stars,  are  the  Pleiades,  "  a  small  platoon  of  stars,  says  Pluche,  very 
remarkable,  most  known,  and  easiest  to  be  distinguished,  of  all  the  constellations. 
They  were  particularly  useful  to  regulate  the  informations  given  to  the  disciples  of  the 
priests,  by  means  of  an  atlas."  "They  were,  says  Bailey,  very  famous  among  men, 
because  they  intimate  the  season  of  the  year." 

The  Blazing  Star  is  Anubis,  the  Dog-star;  whose  rising  forewarned  the  Egyptians 
of  the  approach  of  thfe  overflowing  of  the  Nile.  Hence  the  great  veneration  in  which 
it  was  held  by  them,  and  which  has* descended  to  the  Freemasons. 

The  G  indicates  Geometry,  the  knowledge  of  which  was  of  vast  importance  to  the 
Egyptians  in  measuring  their  lands, — the  boundaries  of  individual  property  being 
removed  by  the  inundation  of  the  Nile.  This  science,  consequently,  was  considered  by 
them  divine  I  and  acquired  a  sort  of  mystical  union  with  the  Deity.  The  G,  however, 
was  not  intended  as  the  initial  of  the  word  God,  that  term  being  unknown  to  the 
Egyptians. 

The  Square  and  Compass,  as  instruments  in  the  science  of  geometry,  became  an 
emblem  o£  justice;  because  through  their  means,  every  one  had  his  "old  land-marks" 
restored  to  him. 

T%.e  Corvucopia,  or  Ham  of  Abundance,  was  a  symbol  used  by  the  Egyptians  to 
denote  the  sun's  being  in  the  sign  Capricorn,  when  the  harvest  was  gathered,  and  con- 
sequently an  abundance  of  provisions  laid  up  in  store. 

TTie  Armorial  Bearings  are  those  of  royal  arch  masonjy ;  for  an  explanation  of 
which,  see  Cherubim,  page  243. 

The  Checkered  Flooring,  called  mosaic  or  musaic  uork,  represents  the  variegated 
face  of  the  earth  in  the  places  where  the  ancients  used  formerly  to  hold  their  religioui 
assemblies.  This  imitation  was  made  when  temple-worship  was  introduced,  to  recon- 
cile the  people  to  the  change.  For  the  origin  of  the  term  mosaic,  or  musaic  work,  see 
page  288. 

The  Cenotaph,  or  Mock-  Coffin,  used  irf  the  anniversaries,  is  typical  of  the  death  of 
the  sun  in  the  inferior  hemisphere,  under  the  name  of  Osiris ;  who  is  personated  by  the 
Hiram  of  masonry. 

The  Mysterious  Trunk,  on  the  left  of  the  coffin,  is  a  copy  of  those  used  by  the 
ancients  for  a  deposition  of  memorials  of  past  events  ;  and  the  box,  on  the  right,  is  the 
form  of  those  used  by  Freemasons  for  a  similar  purpose. 

Among  the  emblems  of  masonry,  in  Cross's  Chart,  is  the  figure  of  a  Key,  which  is 
also  generally  displayed  in  masonic  Monitors.  The  key  was  the  attribute  of  Anubis, 
the  Dog-star,  in  aftertimes  denominated  Mercury,  and  indicated  the  closing  of  one  year, 
and  opening  of  another ;  because  the  Egyptians  formerly  commenced  the  year  at  the 
rising  of  this  star.  Its  employment  was  afterwards  extended  to  the  opening  and  shut- 
ting the  place  of  departed  spirits.  The  Popes  of  Rome,  consequently,  now  claim  it  as 
their  appropriate  badge  of  office.  The  meaning  of  this  symbol  not  having  been  pre- 
served in  the  lodge,  is  there  assigned  to  its  Treasurer. 


ADVERTISEMENT 


As  some  works,  frequently  alluded  to  in  this  vojurae,  may  not  be  familiar  to  readers 
in  general,  it  is  requisite  to  describe  them  more  particularly  than  was  convenient  to  do 
when  making  references  to  them.  In  fact,  often  the  names  of  the  authors  only  are 
mentioned ;  of  such,  therefore,  I  will  here  give  the  titles  more  fully,  with  the  dates  of 
the  editions. 

The  work  of  Bailey,  from  which  many  quotations  are  made,  is  entitled  "  An  Univer- 
sal English  Dictionary  of  Words,  and  of  Arts  and  Sciences,  illustrated  with  260  cuts." 
London,  1759.  This  is  a  continuation  of  his  etymological  dictionary,  but  entirely  dis- 
tinct from  that  work. 

"An  Exposure  of  Freemasonry ;"  pubhshed  in  London,  1825,  in  a  periodical,  entitled 
"The  Republican,"  edited  by  Richard  Carlile. 

"Light  on  Masonry."  By  Elder  David  Bernard  :  Utica,  1829,  This  work  contains 
an  exposition  of  48  degrees  of  Freemasonry. 

"A  Ritual  of  FreemaSonry,  illustrated  with  numerous  engravings."  By  Avery 
AUyn  :  Boston,  1831.    This  volume  treats  of  33  degrees  of  the  order. 

Volney's  Ruins,  here  made  use  of^  is  the  New- York  edition  of  1828. 


Erhata.— Many  errors,  which  may  appear  in  some  copies,  were  corrected  after  a  few 
sheets  were  struck  off.  Those  which  mar  the  sense,  and  mistakes  in  the  spelling  of 
classical  words,  as  well  as  others  in  the  learned  languages,  which  the  general  reader 
could  not  correct,  will  alone  be  taken  notice  of. 

For  Et  foror  and  conjux,  Page  22,  Line  13,  read,  Et  soror  et  conjux.— p.  28,  1.  10, 
repofitum  and  Ofiridis;  repositum,  jOsiridis.— p.  11,  1.  38,  Nemefis;  Nemesis. — p.  30,  1. 
32,  Jevov;  Jehov, — p.  35,  1.  26,  that  their  founder  of  colony;  that  founder  of  their  col- 
ony.— p.  40,  1.  9,  Dionyisus ;  Dionysius. — p.  41,  1.  10,  Sabio ;  Saboi. — p.  49,  1.  27, 
Hannadi ;  Hannabi. — p.  52,  1.  12,  Doedalus ;  Daedalus. — p.  56,  1.  7,  Pegassus ;  Pega- 
sus.—p.  56,  1.  13,  Stabro;  Strabo.— p.  86,  1.  14,  covering;  convening.— p.  86,  1.  15, 
That;  Thus. 

N.  B.  Ihid.,  page  152,  line  10,  refers  to  Moore's  Epicurean,  to  which  the  preceding 
extract  from  Dupuis  should  have  been  credited. 

The  running  title  of  Ch.  Ill,  should  have  comnienced  at  page  142,  instead  of  156.     . 

In  page  318,  the  Defence  of  Freemasonry  is  referred  to  as  having  been  before  noti- 
ced, wnereas  that  article  was  printed  subsequently. 

The  extract  commencing  at  page  333,  and  ending  at  335,  should  be  credited  to  Fou- 
tenelleJs  History  of  Oracles. 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER    I. 

Dogmas  and  Customs  of  the  Ancient  Egyptians  -         -         1-97 

CHAPTER    II. 

Origin,  Nature,  and  Object,  of  the  Ancient  Mysteries;  abridged 
from  Bishop  Warburton's  Divine  Legation  of  Moses ;  with 
notes  and  remarks,  pointing  out  their  identity  with  Free- 
masonry, etc. -    100-141 

CHAPTER    III. 

An  Examination  of  Virgil's  Sixth  Book  of  the  Eneid:  in  which 
it  is  shown,  that  the  allegorical  descent  of  Eneas  into  Hell, 
is  no  other  than  an  enigmatical  representation  of  his  initia- 
tion into  the  Mysteries 142-177 

CHAPTER    IV. 

The  Metamorphosis  of  Apuleius  :  and  the  Amour  of  Cupid  and 
Psyche.  Also :  a  Sketch  of  the  Life  and  Doctrines  of 
Pythagoras,  the  founder  of  the  sect  that  bore  his  name : 
and  the  Doctrines  and  Customs  of  the  Druids,  the  priests 
of  the  ancient  Britons 178-224 

CHAPTER    V. 

Opinions  and  Observations  of  learned  writers  on  Freemasonry, 

'    who  are  in  full  communion  with  the  order   -         -         -   225-257 

CHAPTER    VI. 

An  Inquiry  into  the  Origin  and  History  of  Freemasonry         258-274 

CHAPTER    VII. 

Analysis  of  Freemasonry ;  in  which  the  symbols,  and  original 

intention  of  the  Institution,  are  explained      -         -         -   275-356 

CHAPTER    VIII. 

Miscellaneous  Articles. — Ceremonies   observed  in  laying  the 

corner  stone  of  Freemasons'  Hall,  London,  1775  ;  and  at 

.its  Dedication  in  1776. — Antimasonic  Writers. — Barruel 

and  Robison. — The  Illuminati. — Horrors  of  the  American 

Revolution. — Defence  of  Masonry. — Conclusion.  357-403 


INDEX  TO   CHAPTER  I 


A.  Page. 

Animals  become  symbolical  -  -  31 
Anubis,  Thos,  /Esculapius  -  -  -  37 
Atlas,  Hj'ades,  Pleiades  -  -  -  45 
Apollo,  Muses,  Graces   -        -        -        -  54 

Argus, 58 } 

Apis,  Mnevis 70  , 

Auguries 81 1 


C. 
Cabiri     - -  53 


J.  Page. 

JehoVj  Ammon,  Neptune,  Pluto  •  -  34 

M. 

Memorials  of  past  events       -  -      25 

Menes 35 

Moloch,  Baal,  Adonis,  Achad  -  -       39 

Mercury,  Hermes,  Camillus        -  -  46 

Metamorphoses,  Phantoms     -  -       63 


Circe 
Conjuration 


Dionysius,  Bacchus    - 
Daedalus         .        -        -        . 
Dog-days,  why  so  called  - 

'      E. 

Egyptian  Mysteries 

F. 

Funeral  sjrmbols  and  ceremonies 

G. 

Genealogy  of  the  Gods  - 

H. 


Harpocrates 

I. 
IsiB,  symbol  of  the  earth 


74 


31 


64 


24 


18 


Nyobe 


N. 


O. 


Osu-is,  the  sun,  13.    Resurrection  of 


Phenix,  origin  of  the  fable  of 
Proteus  .        -        .        . 

S. 
Symbolical  writing 
SymboHcal  ceremonies 
Syrens       .        .        -        - 
Saturn    -        -        -^       -        - 
Seniiramis  .        .        . 

Sesostris         .        .        .        . 
Sibyls        -        -        -        - 
Science  of  Ancient  Egyptians 


Typhon  or  Phyton    - 

U. 

Usages  common  to  all  nations 


48 
61 

5 

25 
62 
67 
69 
70 
83 
91 


72 


DEOREBB  IN   rBEEMASONBy,    OF   WHICH   NOTICE   IB   TAKEN   IN  THIS   VOLTTME. 


Degree  of  Entered  Apprentice, 

«*  Fellow-craft 

"  Master  Mason 

'•  Select  Master     - 

"  Most  Excellent  Master 

"  Royal  Arch 

"  High  Priesthood 

•'  Knight  of  the  Eagle 

"  Knight  of  Kadosh      . 

♦'  Order  of  Noachitee 

*•  Rosycnician 


Page. 

281 
292 
294 
307 
311 
324 
339 
343 
344 
352 
400 


INTRODUCTION. 


I 


The  original  object  of  the  secret  rites  of  freemasonry  has 
been  a  subject  of  inquiry  for  upwards  of  six  hundred  years,  and 
the  enigma  seems  not  to  have  been  satisfactorily  solved.  The 
initiated,  as  well  as  those  without  the  pale  of  the  order,  are  equally 
ignorant  of  their  derivation  and  import.  What  mote  it  be  1  is  a. 
question  as  difficult  of  solution  now  as  when  first  propounded  by 
king  Henry  VI.  of  England. 

The  intention  of  this  work  is  to  endeavor  to  unravel  the  intri- 
cate web  in  which  the  mystery  is  involved,  by  tracing  the  order 
back  to  its  source,  and,  by  showing  its  intimate  connection  and 
similitude  to  institutions  more  ancient,  put  it  beyond  a  doubt,  that 
it  sprang  from,  and  is  a  continuation  of  the  rites  and  ceremonies 
observed  in  those  establishments. 

Had  a  work,  taken  notice  of  by  the  Abbe  Barruel,  fallen  into 
the  hands  of  the  editor,  he  would  probably  have  been  saved  much 
trouble  in  the  prosecution  of  this  research. — "We  recommend, 
says  he,  to  our  reader  to  peruse  the  treatise  of  a  most  learned  and 
zealous  mason,  dedicated  Demen  die  es  Verstehen,  or  To  those 
who  can  understand.  He  leaves  no  stone  unturned  throughout 
antiquity  to  prove  the  identity  of  the  ancient  mysteries  of  Eleusis, 
of  the  Jews,  of  the  Druids,  and  of  the  Egyptians,  with  those  of 
freemasonry." 

In  pursuance  of  this  course,  it  becomes  necessary  to  take  a 

transient  view  of  the  dogmas  and  customs  of  Egypt  in  the  remotest 

2 


X  mXRODUCTION. 

*  periods  of  its  history ;  for  it  appears  evident,  that  this  country  was 
the  sahent  point  from  which  the  rehgious  observances  of  the 
ancient  world  commenced. 

What  are  emphatically  called  the  mysterieSy  is  but  another 
name  for  religion ;  and  an  exposition  of  what  they  consisted,  is  of 
course  embraced  in  the  subject  as  forming  a  parallel  with  the  rites 
of  masonry.  Independent  of  the  main  design  of  the  work,  these 
topics  in  themselves  possess  great  interest  as  matters  of  curiosity ; 
which  is  enhanced  by  observing  the  close  affinity  which  they  bear 
to  the  practices  of  the  masonic  order  at  the  present  day. 

"  Among  all  the  ancient  nations  which  have  been  distinguished 
in  history,  there  is  none  more  worthy  of  our  notice  than  the  king- 
dom of  Egypt.  If  not  the  birth-place,  it  was  the  early  protector 
of  the  sciences  ;  and  cherished  every  species  of  knowledge,  which 
was  known  or  cultivated  in  remote  times.  It  was  the  principal 
source  from,  wliich  the  Grecians  derived  their  information ;  and, 
after  all  its  windings  and  enlargements,  we  may  still  trace  the 
stream  of  our  knowledge  to  the  banks  of  the  Nile."  (New  Edinb, 
Ency.) 

Whatever  may  be  thought  of  the  doctrines  of  the  mysteries, 
they  enforced  tlie  principles  of  morality  by  tlie  most  terrific  scenical 
representations  of  the  torments  of  the  wicked  on  the  one  hand,  and 
of  the  most  pleasing  spectacles  of  the  happiness  of  the  righteous 
on  tlie  other,  in  a  future  life.  These  scenes  are  faintly  copied  in 
royal  arch  masonry,  and  the  seime  morals,  in  like  manner,  incul- 
cated. 

The  writer  is  not  a  devotee  to  the  mystic  rites  of  the  craft : 
he  is  not  prepared  to  vindicate  the  outrages  committed  by  indi- 
viduals of  the  order,  instigated  by  a  fanatical  zeal  for  the  protec- 
tion of  frivolous  ceremonies  ;  -nor  will  he  apologize  for  the  use  that 
m  y  have  been  made  of  the  fraternity  to  promote  the  views  ctf 


INTRODUCTION.  XI 

political  aspirants.  If  any  improper  influence  in  this  respect,  has 
been  employed,  as  is  asserted,  he  does  not  hesitate  to  pronounce  it 
anti-masonic — against  the  rules  of  the  order  ;  for  both  religion,  on 
which  itself  was  originally  founded,  as  well  as  politics,  are  totally 
excluded  from  the  lodge. 

The  most  material  and  best  founded  objection  that  has  been 
brought  against  masonry,  is  the  oaths  which  it  imposes  upon  the 
brethren.  They  are  shocking  to  the  taste  of  the  present  age : 
their  continuance  was  an  enormous  blunder  in  the  revivers  of  the 
order  in  1717.  They  were  then  no  longer  necessary.  Masonry 
contains  nothing  which  at  that  time  rendered  its  members  amena- 
ble to  the  laws  of  England. 

The  false  construction  put  upon  these  oaths,  has  implicated  the 
order  in  the  foulest  deeds  ;  and  perhaps  caused  the  masonic  obli- 
gations to  be  considered  paramount  to  legal  oaths  administered  in 
courts  of  law,  and  thus  perverted  the  course  of  justice.  The  only 
means,  therefore,  of  avoiding  this  evil,  and  of  wiping  away  the 
stain  at  present  attached  to  the  society,  is  a  total  abandonment  of 
the  oaths.* 

However  desirable  this  may  be  to  many  of  the  brethren,  it  is 

*  "At  the  very  ihreshhold  of  our  mysteries,  an  oath  of  secrecy,  extremely  minute  in 
all  its  details,  and  tremendous  in  its  sanctions,  has  from  time  immemorial  been  exacted 
of  every  candidate.  It  is  not  to  be  supposed  that  such  an  oath  had  no  foundation  at 
first.  It  would  argue  a  profligacy  incredible,  to  invent  one  so  sacred  and  inviolable 
merely  for  the  sake  of  swearing  it.  Nor  does  such  a  solemnity  comport  with  the  design 
or  practices  of  any  association  of  architects  whatever.  For  what  is  there,  or  what  could 
there  ever  have  been,  in  the  art  of  building,  or  in  the  whole  circleof  science  merely,  that 
could  require  or  even  warrant  so  appalling  an  obligation'?  Neither  does  it  agree  with 
the  prestent  state  of  the  institution  ;  for  masonry  harbors  no  treasons  nor  blasphemies. 
Its  designs  at  the  present  day  are  not  only  innocent,  but  laudable.  It  requires  us  to 
fear  God  and  promote  the  happiness  of  man.  The  inventors  of  this  oath,  then,  must 
have  most  unpardonably  trifled  with  the  awful  solemnity  of  such  an  engagement,  if,  at 
the  time  of  its  institution,  there  did  not  exist  a  cause,  proportionate,  at  kast  in  some 
degree,  to  the  precautions  used  against  its  violation.  (Vid. — The  way  to  words  by 
things,  or  an  attempt  at  the  retrieval  of  the  ancient  Celtic,  in  a  volume  of  tracts  in  the 
library  of  Harvard  College.)  What  this  cause  was,  we  can  determine  only  by  probable 
conjecture.  But  we  may  presume  that  it  must  have  originated  in  some  great  personal 
danger,  if  not  death,  apprehended  to  members  of  the  mstitution  from  the  populace,  if 
their  secrets  were  laid  open  to  the  world.  Every  mason,  by  reflecting  on  these  hints, 
will  satisfy  his  own  mind,  that  at  the  first  constitution  of  our  fraternity,  its  great  object 
was  not  solely  the  advancement  of  the  arts,  still  less  of  architecture  alone.^'— (Green- 
leaf 's  Brief  Inquiry  into  the  Origin  and  Principles  of  Freemasonry. 


# 


XU  INTRODUCTION. 

resisted  by  others  on  the  absurd  and  superstitious  notion,  that  no 
alterations  can  take  place  in  "  the  ancient  land-marks"  of  the 
institution ;  which,  like  the  laws  of  the  Medes  and  Persians,  must 
remain  eternally  the  same :  when,  notwithstanding,  within  about 
fifty  years,  the  old  inclosurcs  have  been  broken  down,  and  the 
boundaries  of  the  order  extended  so  as  to  include  an  immense 
territory  beyond  the  ancient  limits. 

After  this  unqualified  reprobation  of  the  oaths,  I  confidently 
assert,  that  nothing  is  taught  or  practised  in  the  lodges  contrary  to 
the  strictest  morals.  The  exposition  of  the  ritual  by  those  even 
who  are  inimical  to  the  order,  proves  the  fact.  And,  as  has  been 
often  urged,  if  there  were  no  other  testimony,  the  characters  of 
many  of  those  who  are  known  to  be  members,  is  a  sufficient 
guarantee  that  nothing  improper  would  be  tolerated. 

If  it  be  said,  that  a  partial  feeling  is  created  among  the  brethren, 
that  operates  injuriously  to  the  public  good,  it  may  be  answered, 
that  the  same  objection  may  be  urged  against  all  associations  of 
individuals,  whatever  may  be  their  views  and  intentions. 

This  partiality,  by  the  way,  has  been  the  cause  of  relieving 
many  in  distress,  and  even  saving  the  lives  of  valuable  citizens. 
A  case  of  this  kind  happened  in  the  American  revolutionary  war, 
which  is  often  alluded  to  by  masonic  writers.  Col.  McKenstry 
was  taken  prisoner  by  the  Indians,  who  were  preparing  to  put  him 
to  a  cruel  death.  In  this  emergency,  he  gave  the  masonic  sign  of 
distress,  which  induced  a  brother  mason,  a  British  officer,  to  inter- 
fere and  save  his  life. 

While  this  transaction  reflects  honor  upon  the  officer  as  a 
mason,  it  at  the  same  time  leaves  an  indelible  stain  upon  his  charac- 
ter as  a  man,  which  equally  attaches  to  his  king  and  government. 
What  I  employ  savages  as  auxiliaries  in  war,  and  then  stand  by  and 
look  coolly  on,  while  they  amuse  themselves  in  tomahawking  and 


INTRODUCTION.  XIU 

scalping  their  prisoners,  unless  the  latter  can  give  the  talismanic 
signal,  and  pronounce  the  Shibboleth  of  masonry  ?— But  as  kings 
are  considered  by  their  subjects  not  fo  be  moral  agents,  but  looked 
upon  as  minors  or  idiots  who  can  do  no  wrong,  the  prime  minister 
at  the  time,  lord  North,  and  his  principal  adviser,  lord  Sackville, 
must  bear  the  bulk  of  the  odium. 

This  rule  of  masons  to  grant  aid  to  each  other  under  certain 
circumstances,  was  probably  derived  from  the  laws  of  Egypt :  by 
which,  "  He  who  had  neglected  or  refused  to  save  a  man's  life 
when  attacked,  if  it  were  in  his  power  to  assist  him,  was  punished 
as  rigorously  as  the  assassin :  but  if  the  unfortunate  person  could 
not  be  succoured,  the,  offender  was  at  least  to  be  impeached,  and 
penalties  were  decreed  for  any  neglect  of  this  kind.  Thus  the 
subjects  were  a  guard  and  protection  to  one  another ;  and  the 
whole  body  of  the  community  united  against  the  designs  of  the 
bad."— (Rollings  Anc.  Hist.) 

Some  apology  for  the  awful  oaths  administered  in  masonic 
lodges,  is  perhaps  due  on  the  ^score  of  precedent ;  which  has  in  all 
tim.es  greatly  influenced  the  customs  and  government  of  the  world, 
and  sometimes  sanctified  principles  the  most  absurd  and  pernicious. 

The  mysteries  were  protected  by  the  most  severe  oaths  in 
Greece  and  Rome,  and,  no  doubt,  were  equally  so  in  Egypt,  the 
place  of  their  birth.  And,  moreover,  in  the  two  former  countries, 
if  not  in  the  latter,  revealing  the  secrets-  of  these  mysteries  was 
punished  with  death  by  the  laws. 

For  this  there  was  a  substantial  reason :  the  greater  mysteries 
taught  the  doctrine  of  one  Supreme  God,  and  that  polytheism  was 
an  error ;  admitting,  at  the  same  time,  that  the  sun,  moon,  and 
stars,  were  minor  divinities  under  the  superintendence  of  the  one 
Supreme.  The  belief,  however,  in  Hero-go4s  was  so  engrafted 
on  the  minds  of  the  ignorant  multitude,  that  it  was  feared  the  open 


XIV  INTRODUCTION. 

promulgation  of  a  doctrine  in  opposition  to  that  faith,  would  lead 
to  disturbances  in  the  state  that  might  produce  great  evil.  This 
mystery  consequently  was  confided  only  to  a  chosen  few  of  the 
most  intelligent,  under  the  sanction  of  an  oath  and  the  penalties  of 
the  law. 

When  freemasonry  was  first  established  in  England,  soon  after 
the  edict  of  Canute,  in  the  beginning  of  the  eleventh  century,  (as  is 
presumed,)  prohibiting  in  toto  the  \Druidical  worship,  the  strongest 
oaths  were  required  to  bind  the  initiated  to  secrecy :  for  had  the 
real  intent  of  its  founders  been  known,  it  would  doubtless  have 
cost  them  their  lives. 

That  Canute  was  superstitious,  and  of  course  vindictive,  is 
evident  from  his  having  made  a  pilgrimage  to  Rome,  through 
excessive  religious  zeal,  in  1030 ;  and,  therefore  would,  no  doubt, 
have  punished  the  Druids  for  an  infraction  of  his  edict  with  merci- 
less cruelty. 

By  the  incorporation  of  the  Danes  with  the  nation,  (says 
Lingard,  in  his  History  of  England,)  the  rites  of  paganism  had 
again  made  their  appearance  in  the  island.  Canute  forbade  the 
worship  of  the  heathen  gods,  of  the  sun  or  moon,  of  fire  or  water, 
of  stones  or  fountains,  and  of  forests  or  trees. 

This  ferocious  and  sanguinary  warrior,  in  1030,  made  a 
pilgrimage  to  Rome.  On  the  road  he  visited  the  most  celebrated 
churches,  leaving  every  where  proofs  of  his  devotion  and  liberality. 
In  his  return  he  proceeded  imniediately  to  Denmark,  but  despatched 
the  abbot  of  Tavistock  to  England  with  a  letter,  describing  the 
object  and  issue  of  his  journey.  In  this  letter  he  says,  "  It  is  long 
since  I  bound  myself  by  my  vow  to  make  this  pilgrimage  ;  but  I 
had  been  hitherto  prevented  by  afiairs  of  state,  and  other  impedi- 
ments. Now,  however,  I  return  humble  thanks  to  Almighty  God, 
^at  he  has  allowed  me  to  visit  the  tombs  of  the  blessed  apostles, 


INTRODUCTION.  XV 


Peter  and  Paul,  and  every  holy  place  v^ithin  and  without  the  city 
of  Rome,  and  to  honor  and  venerate  them  in  person.  And  this  I 
have  done,  because  I  had  learned  from  my  teachers,  that  the  apostle 
St.  Peter  received  from  the  Lord  the  great  power  of  binding  and 
loosing,  with  the  keys  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  On  this  account 
I  thought  it  highly  useful  to  solicit  his  patronage  with  God." 

He  concludes  his  letter  as  follows :  "  Lastly,  I  entreat  all  my 
bishops,  and  all  the  sheriff^,  by  the  fidelity  which  they  owe  to  m^ 
and  to  God,  that  the  church  dues,  according  to  the  ancient  laws, 
may  be  paid  before  my  return,  namely  :  the  plow-alms,  the  tithes 
oi  cattle  of  the  present  year,  the  Peter-pence,  the  tithes  oi  fruit  in 
the  middle  of  August,  and  the  kirk-shot  at  the  feast  of  St.  Martin, 
to  the  parish  church.  Should  this  be  omitted,  at  my  return,  I  will 
punish  the  offender  by  exacting  the  whole  fine  appointed  by  law . 
Fare  ye  well." 

Furthermore,  it  may  be  remarked,  that  the  customs  of  the 
times  in  which  I  am  endeavoring  to  show  that  masonry  was  estab- 
lished, sanctioned  the  most  horrible  oaths. 

"  The  multiplicity  of  oaths  in  the  judicial  proceeding  of  the 
middle  ages,*  (says  Dr.  Henry,  in  his  History  of  Great  Britain, 
V.  iii,  p.  425,)  had  the  same  effect  that  it  will  always  have,  of 
diminishing  men's  veneration  for  them,  and  giving  occasion  for 
frequent  peijury.  The  legislators  of  those  times  employed  several 
devices  to  prevent  this,  by  awakening  the  consciences,  and  keeping 
alive  the  religious  fears  of  mankind.  With  this  view,  their  oaths 
were  couched  in  the  most  awful  forms  of  words  that  could  he 
invented;  and  these  forms  were  frequently  changed,  that  they 
might  not  lose  their  effect  by  becoming  too  familiar." 

Many  who  have  written  with  great  asperity  against 'masonry, 
under  false  impressions  of  its  general  tendency,  have  doubtless 

*  The  middle  or  dark  ages  are  described  as  comprehending  the  thousand  years  from 
the  taking  of  Rome  by  the  Goths,  in  the  middle  of  the  fifth  century,  to  the  taking  of 
Constantinople,  by  the  Turks,  in  the  middle  of  the  fifteenth  century.— Edit. 


XVI  INTRODUCTION. 

been  actuated  by  the  purest  motives,  whilst  others,  such  as  the 
Abbe  Barruel  and  Professor  Robison,  have  been  instigated  by  the 
most  malignant  political  prejudices.  I  shall  take  some  notice  of 
these  two  writers  in  the  sequel. 


07  TH3        -'^-^  ^ 


EXPOSITION 


MYSTERIES,    &C.* 


CHAPTER    I. 

DOGMAS    AND    CUSTOMS    OF    THE    ANCIENT    EGYPTIANS. 

It  will  be  attempted,  in  this  work,  to  show  that  the  mysteries  and 
ceremonies  of  the  celebrated  order  of  Freemasons  are  derived  from  the 
religious  dogmas  and  customs  of  ancient  nations,  particularly  those  of 
Egypt,  where  the  foundation  of  the  whole  machinery  of  religious  mys- 
teries, as  far  as  is  known,  was  first  laid. 

In  order,  therefore,  to  attain  a  comprehensive  view  of  this  subject,  it 
becomes  necessary  to  be  well  informed  of  the  rites,  customs,  and  cere- 
monies, of  the  ancient  inhabitants  of  that  famous  country.  And  as  the 
Abbe  Pluche,  in  his  History  of  the  Heavens,  has  treated  more  minutely 
of  these  topics,  and  explained  them  more  satisfactorily,  than  any  other 
author  that  has  fallen  under  my  observation,  I  shall  commence  this 
volume  with  extracts  from  his  work. 

Critical  histories  of  the  fabulous  gods  of  Paganism,  under  the  sem- 
blance of  truth,  have  been  transmitted  from  age  to  age,  and  been  gene- 
rally received  as  narratives  of  real  facts.  Pluche  has  unveiled  many 
of  these  poetical  fictions,  and  pointed  out  the  source  from  which  they 
were  derived. 

My  limits  will  not  permit  me  to  give  the  whole  of  his  expositions; 
but,  on  account  of  the  great  merit  of  the  work,  with  which,  it  is  pre- 

1 


X  DOGMAS    AND    CUSTOMS    OF  , 

sumed,  but  few  American  readers  are  acquainted,  I  have  not  confined 
the  selections  merely  to  such  parts  as  have  a  particular  bearing  upon 
the  subject  in  hand. 

As  the  author  is  little  known  in  America,  I  will  give  an  abstract  of 
a  sketch  of  his  life  and  writings,  contained  in  La  Biographic  Univer- 
selle,  Paris,  1830. 

Anthony  Pluche,  a  celebrated  writer,  was  born  at  Reims,  in  1688; 
and  obtained  the  appointment  of  Professor  of  Languages,  in  the  Uni- 
versity of  that  city.  Two  years  afterwards,  he  passed  to  the  chair  of 
Rhetoric,  and  was  raised  to  holy  orders.  The  bishop  of  Laon,  (Cler- 
mont,) becoming  acquainted  with  his  talents,  gave  him  the  presidency 
of  the  College  of  his  diocese.  By  his  assiduity  and  science,  the  insti- 
tution was  much  improved;  when  particular  circumstances  occurred 
that  troubled  his  tranquility,  and  obliged  him  to  relinquish  his  employ. 
The  Intendant  of  Rouen  confided  to  him  the  education  of  his  son,  at 
the  request  of  the  celebrated  Rollin.  The  Abbe  Pluche  having  fulfill- 
ed this  trust  with  success,  left  Rouen  for  Paris,  where  he  gave,  at  first, 
lessons  on  Geography  and  History.  Through  the  notice  of  distin- 
guished authors,  his  name  soon  became  celebrated,  and  he  sustained 
that  celebrity  by  his  works. 

He  gave  successively,  to  the  public, — first,  the  Spectacle  de  la 
Nature,  (Nature  Displayed,)  in  9  volumes,  12mo.  This  work,  equally 
instructive  as  agreeable,  is  written  with  much  clearness  and  elegance. 
Second,  The  Histoire  du  Ciel,  (History  of  the  Heavens,)  in  2  vols., 
12mo.  In  this  work  is  to  be  found  two  parts,  almost  independent  of 
each  other.  The  first  contains  learned  researches  upon  the  origin  of 
the  poetical  heavens.  This  is  nearly  a  complete  mythology,  founded 
upon  new  and  ingenious  udeas.  The  second  is  the  history  of  the  opin- 
ions of  philosophers  on  the  formation  of  the  world.  The  author  here 
shows  the  imcertainty  of  systems  the  most  accredited.  Besides  a  dic- 
tion noble  and  well  turned,  one  here  finds  an  erudition  that  does  not 
fatigue.  As  to  the  ground  of  the  system  exposed  in  the  first  part,  Vol- 
taire calls  it,  probably  with  reason,  the  Fable  of  Heaven.  Third,  La 
Mecanique  des  Langues,  Paris,  1735,  in  12mo.  He  here  proposes  a 
means  more  short  for  learning  languages.  Fourth,  Concorde  de  la 
Geographie  des  difTerens  ages;  Paris,  1764,  in  12mo. 

Plan  of  the   WorJc. 

I  FIND  myself  under  the  necessity  of  oversetting,  or  unravelling, 
iables.  in  order  to  establish  truth.     The  men  most  celebrated,  who  have 


THE    ANCIENT    EGYPTIANS.  3 

treated  of  the  formation  of  the  heavens  and  of  the  earth,  or  of  their  mu- 
tual relations,  were  pagans,  philosophers  of  different  nations,  and  sacred 
writers.  Those  systems  which  have  been  given  by  the  Egyptians, 
Phenicians,  the  Greeks,  and  Romans,  are  obszured  by  fabulous  recitals, 
and  by  metamorphoses  full  of  absurdity.  Although  they  were  the  most 
ingenious  and  polished  of  all  people,  they  formed  ideas  so  strange  on  the 
government  of  the  heavens,  and  on  the  powers  which  sustain  the  human 
species,  that  there  is  no  need  to  combat  them  with  argument ;  they  carry 
their  own  refutation  with  them.  But,  from  the  depth  of  this  frightful  dark- 
ness, it  is  possible  to  elicit  light.  Through  these  fictions,  I  find  a  fact, 
the  explication  of  which  shows  us  what  has  given  birth  to  fables ;  it  is 
the  development  of  them.  The  first  fixed  point,  is  the  signification  of 
the  names  and  figures  which  have  served,  from  the  highest  antiquity, 
to  characterize  the  sun,  the  moon,  and  the  stars,  according  to  their 
different  situations.  The  usages  of  the  ancients,  and  the  inspection  of 
nature,  will  aid  us  in  discovering  the  sense,  the  knowledge  of  which 
will  lead  us  immediately  to  perceive  the  enormous  abuse  that  has  been 
made  of  the  institutions  of  the  first  men,  and  place  in  sufficient  light  the 
origin  of  the  idolatry  of  our  fathers. 

Another  effect  of  this  research,  is  to  ,teach  us,  tliat  the  saifie  mistake 
which  has  peopled  the  heavens  with  chimerical  divinities,  has  given 
birth  to  a  multitude  of  false  pretensions  on  the  influences  of  the  hea- 
venly bodies,  and  the  errors  which  still  tyrannise  over  most  minds.  If 
our  history  of  the  heavens  produces  no  other  benefit  than  the  discovery 
of  the  mistakes  which  have  precipitated  the  human  race  into  errors  that 
disgrace  it, — the  consequences  of  which  still  disturb  the  repose  of  soci- 
ety,— this  w^ill  undoubtedly  be  an  advantage  sufficiently  satisfactory. 

My  remarks  may  be  useful  to  youth,  by'unveiling  to  them  those 
fabulous  personages  which  they  hear  so  often  mentioned.  I  have  still 
greater  hopes,  perhaps  with  too  much  presumption,  that  this  small  essay 
might  be  of  some  use  to  teachers  themselves.  I  should  think  myself 
happy  to  have  assisted  their  work,  by  some  views  w^hich  th^y  might 
afterwards  improve  and  proportion  to  the  wants  of  their  disciples. 
Teachers,  however  well  qualified,  generally  want  leisure  to  undertake 
researches  of  any  considerable  length ;  and  the  more  judicious  they  are, 
the  more  disagreeable >  is  it  to  them,  to  be  for  a  long  series  of  years 
handling  fables  almost  always  absurd  or  scandalous,  without  bemg 
recompensed  for  the  tiresomeness  of  these  ridiculous  stories,  by  the 
satisfaction  of  being  able  at  least  to  find  out  the  origin  of  them.  ,  I  here 


4  DOGMAS    AND    CUSTOMS    OP 

derive  all  the  branches  of  idolatry  from  one  and  the  same  root.  I 
endeavor  to  show,  that  the  same  mistake  has  given  birth  to  the  gods, 
goddesses,  metamorphoses,  auguries,  and  oracles.  The  fables  thus 
reduced  to  their  true  value,  will  amuse  without  danger ;  and  the  mas- 
ters possibly  will  like  and  adopt  a  principle,  whose  great  simplicity 
puts  it  within  the  reach  of  children  themselves. 

The  chief  benefit  I  should  be  glad  to  reap  from  my  labor,  would  be 
the  facilitating  the  study  of  nature,  and  even  that  of  religion,  in  restrain- 
ing the  said  study  within  the  bounds  of  possibility  and  necessity,  both 
which  are  still  of  no  small  extent. 

The  engravings  accompanying  the  work  are  all  drawn  from  the 
monuments  of  antiquity.  They  are  marked  as  follows: — all  those 
found  in  Antiquity  Explained,  by  Montfaucon,  with  an  M ;  those  col- 
lected by  Cartari,  with  a  C ;  those  which  are  on  the  vase  of  agate  of 
St.  Denys,  with  a  V ;  and  those  which  are  taken  from  the  table  of  Isis, 
published  by  Pignorius,  with  a  T. 

Usages  Common  to  All  Nations. 

We  are  sometimes  amazed  at  the  conformity  found  in  many  respects 
between  the  practices  of  the  Hebrews,  and  those  of  the  nations  given 
over  to  the  grossest  idolatry.  Most  of  the  learned,  in  order  to  account 
for  such  a  similitude  of  usages,  say  that  false  religions  only  copied  and 
mimicked  the  true ;  and  from  the  conformity  of  some  particulars  of 
mythology  with  sacred  history,  they  think  themselves  authorized  to 
affirm,  that  the  heathens  had  the  communication  of  the  holy  scriptures, 
or  must  have  frequented  the  company  and  imitated  the  Hebrews. 

Other  learned  men,  and  among  the  rest.  Sir  John  Marsham,  in  his 
Rule  of  Times,  being  sensible  how  much  unknown  to,  and  as  it  were, 
separated  from  other  nations,  the  Hebrews  were, — how  much  disliked 
'  by  those  that  knew  them, — and  of  course,  how  little  fit  they  were  to 
serve  them  as  models,  and  finding,  moreover,  from  a  multitude  of  evi- 
dent proofs,  that  the  sacrifices,  the  ceremonial,  and  the  very  objects  them- 
selves, of  idolatry,  were  prior  to  Moses  and  the  holy  scriptures,  they 
have  maintained,  that  the  laws  and  the  ceremonies  of  the  Hebrews  were 
an  imitation  of  the  customs  of  Egypt  and  the  neighboring  nations,  but 
adapted  to  the  worship  of  one  God.* 

*  Great  use  is  made  of  the  Bible,  in  the  ceremonies  of  masonry ;  which  may  be 
accounted  for  by  the  conformity  in  the  customs  of  the  Hebrews  with  those  of  more 
ancient  nations,  from  which  the  masonic  order  is  derived.— JE^di/. 


THE    ANCIENT    EGYPTIANS.  9 

m 

Symbolical  Writing. 

The  Egyptians,  even  the  most  ancient  of  them,  were  acquainted  with 
the  signs  of  the  Zodiac.  Their  monuments^  which  are  kno^vn  to  be  of 
the  earliest  antiquity,  are  covered  with  figures,  among  which  those  of 
the  crab  and  the  wild  goat,  of  the  balance  and  the  scorpion,  of  the  ram 
and  the  bull,  of  the  kid,  the  lion,  the  virgin,  and  the  rest,  are  frequently 
found. 

The  twelve  sjiribolical  names,  which  signify  the  twelve  portions, 
both  of  the  year  and  the  heavens,  were  a  prodigious  help  towards  regu- 
lating the  beginnings  of  sowing,  mowing,  harvest,  and  the  other  works 
of  mankind. 

It  was  found  very  convenient,  to  expose  in  public  a  small  figure,  or 
a  single  letter,  to  notify  the  exact  time  when  certain  general  workg. 
were  to  be  begun  in  common,  and  when  certain  feasts  were  to  be  cele- 
brated- The  use  of  these  figures  appeared  so  convenient,  that  they  by 
degrees  extended  it  to  more  things  than  the  order  of  the  calendar. 
Several  symbols,  fit  to  inform  the  people  of  certain  truths,  by  some  anal- 
ogy or  relation  between  the  figure  and  the  thing  they  had  a  mind  to 
have  understood,  were  devised. 

This  method  of  saying  or  showing  one  thing,  to  intimate  others,  is 
what  induced  among  the  eastern  nations  the  taste  of  allegories.  They 
preserved,  for  a  long  time,  the  method  of  teaching  every  thing  under 
symbols,  calculated,  by  a  mysterious  outside,  to  excite  curiosity,  which 
was  afterwards  recompensed  by  the  satisfaction  of  hafing  discovered 
the  truths  which  they  concealed.  Pythagoras,  who  had  travelled 
among  the  eastern  nations,  thence  brought  that  custom  to  Italy. 

Ham,  and  those  of  his  descendants  who  came  to  inhabit  the  banks  of 
the  Nile,  and  the  whole  Lower  Eg}'pt,  first  tried  to  cultivate  the  earth 
according  to  the  order  of  the  year,  and  in  the  manner  used  in  other 
countries ;  but  no  sooner  were  they  ready  to  cut  down  their  harvest,  in 
the  driest  season  of  the  year,  and  without  the  least  appearance  of  rain,* 
but  the  river  swelled,  to  their  great  amazement :  it  flowed  on  a  sudden 
over  its  banks,  and  took  from  them  those  provisions  which  they  thought 
themselves  already  sure  of  The  waters  continued  to  rise  to  the  height 
of  twelve,  fourteen,  or  even  sixteen  cubits,!  covered  all  the  plains, 

*  Never  does  it  rain  in  the  Deha,  (Lower  Egypt,)  in  the  summer,  and  but  rarely  and 
in  small  quantities  during  the  whole  course  of  the  year. —  VcImyA  ''"— —  '    —  EdtL 

tin  the  time  of  Herodotus,  sixteen  cubits  were  necessary,  or  at  .  to  over- 

flow the  Delta.    The  same  number  was  suflScient  in  the  time  of  i.  -.     Bdbre 

the  time  of  Petronins,  says  Sirabo,  plenty  was  not  known  in  the  Delia,  unless  the  Kil» 
rose  to fourtun  cubita.— Ibid.    {Edit.) 


6  DOGMAS    AND    CUSTOMS    OF 

the  plains,  carried  away  their  cattle,  and  even  the  inhabitants  them- 
selves. The  inundation  lasted  ten  or  eleven  weeks,  and  oftentimes 
more. 

It  is  true,  the  overflowing  left  on  the  land  a  mud  which  improved  it; 
but,  the  difficulty  of  obtaining  a  harvest,  since  the  summer  the  only  time 
proper  for  it,  brought  the  storm  and  the  inundation,  caused  Ham  to  quit 
both  the  lower  and  the  middle  Egypt,  and  retire  to  the  higher.  He 
there  founded  the  city  of  Thebes,  originally  called  Amxmon-no,  Ammon's 
abode.  But  many,  finding  it  inconvenient  to  remove  from  lower  Egypt, 
which  after  the  retiring  of  the  waters,  was  throughout  the  remaining 
part  of  the  year  like  a  beautiful  garden,  and  a  delightful  place  to  dwell 
in,  endeavored  to  fortify  themselves  against  the  return  of  the  waters. 

They  observed  from  one  year  to  another,  that  the  overflowing  was 
always  preceded  by  an  Etesian  (annual)  wind,  which  blowing  fromnorth 
to  south,  about  the  time  of  the  passage  of  the  sun  under  the  stars  of  the 
crab,  drove  the  vapors  towards  the  south,  and  gathered  them  in  the 
middle  of  the  country,  (Ethiopia,  now  Nubia  and  Abysinia)  whence  the 
Nile  came ;  which  there  caused  plentiful  rains,  that  swelled  the  waters 
of  the  river,  and  brought  on  the  inundation  of  lower  Egypt. 

But  they  wanted  the  means  "of  knowing  exactly  the  time  when  it 
should  be  necessary  for  them  to  be  prepared  for  the  inundation.  The 
flowing  of  the  river  beyond  its  banks  happened  some  days  sooner  or 
later,  when  the  sun  was  under  the  stars  of  the  lion.  Near  the  stars  of 
Cancer,  though  pretty  far  from  the  band  of  the  zodiac  towards  the  south, 
and  a  few  weeks  after  their  rising,  they  see  in  the  morning  one  of  the 
most  brilliant,  if  not  the  largest  star  of  the  whole  heaven,  ascending  the 
horizon.  It  appeared  a  little  before  the  rising  of  the  sun,  which  had 
rendered  it  almost  invisible  for  a  month  or  two  before.  The  Egyptians 
then  pitched  upon  the  rising  of  this  magnificent  star  as  the  infallible 
sign  of  the  sun's  passing  under  the  stars  of  Leo,  and  of  the  beginning  of 
the  inundation.  That  star  became  the  public  mark,  on  which  every  one 
was  to  keep  a  watchful  eye,  not  to  miss  the  instant  of  retiring  to  the 
higher  grounds.  As  it  was  seen  but  a  very  little  time  above  the  hori- 
zon, towards  the  dawning  of  the  aurora,  which  becoming  every  instant 
clearer,  soon  made  it  disappear,  it  seemed  to  show  itself  to  the  Egyp- 
tians, merely  to  warn  them  of  the  overflowing,  which  soon  followed. 

They  then  gave  this  star  two  names  having  a  very  natural  relation  to 
the  helps  they  borrowed  therefrom.  It  warned  thenl  of  the  danger  ; 
whereupon  they  called  it  Thaaut  or  Tayaut,  the  dog ;  tKey  called  it 
also  the  barker,  the  monitor,  in  Egyptian,  A»wii5  /  in  Phenician,  Han- 


THE    ANCIENT    EGYPTIANS,  7 

nobeach ;  which,  by-the-by,  shows  the  analogy  there  was  between  these 
two  languages,  notwithstanding  the  diversity  of  many  words,  though 
chiefly  in  the  pronunciation,  which  made  them  appear  quite  diflerent. 
The  connection  of  this  star  and  the  rising  of  the  river,  caused  the  people 
to  call  it  commonly  the  Nile-star,  or  barely  the  Nile.  In  Egyptian  and 
in  Hebrew,  Sihor  ;  in  Greek,  Seirios ;  in  Latin,  Sirius.  The  Egyptians 
gave  it  besides,  but  in  latter  times,  the  name  of  Sothis  or  Thotes,  which 
is  the  same  with  his  other  name,  Thot,  the  dog,  with  a  different  pro- 
nunciation. 

The  inhabitants,  retiring  into  their  towns  on  the  warning  of  the 
northern  wind  and  the  dog-star,  remained  idle  for  two  mbnths  or  more, 
till  the  waters  w^ere  perfectly  drained.  Therefore,  the  prudence  of  the 
Egyptians,  before  the  overflowing,  chiefly  consisted  in  observing  the 
termination  of  the  vernal  winds,  the  return  of  the  northerly  which  began 
with  the  summer,  and  at  last  the  rising  of  the  dog-star,  which  circum- 
stance was  to  them  the  most  remarkable  point  of  the  heavens. 

During  their  inaction,  after  the  rising  of  the  river  beyond  its  banks, 
their  attention  was  directed  to  the  observance  of  the  return  of  the  south- 
erly winds,  more  moderate  than  those  of  the  spring,  and  which  facilita- 
ted the  flowing  of  the  river  towards  the  Mediterranean,  by  the  conformity 
of  their  blowing  with  its  direction,  which  is  from  south  to  north  ;*  and 
also  to  measuring  the  depth  of  the  river,  in  order  to  regulate  their  hus- 
bandry according  to  the  quantity  of  mud,  which  was  always  proportioned 
to  the  degree  of  the  increase. 


I  will  here  remark,  that  the  Anxihis  or  Dog-Star,  so  useful  to  the  ancient  Egyptians, 
is  the  jB^azing--(S'to7- of  masonry; -and,  although  the  craft  are  ignorant  of  its  origin  as  a 
masonic  symbol,  they  are  actually  taught  the  moral  drawn  from  its  original  emblem- 
atical use. 

"  The  blazing-star  represents  that  prudence  which  ought  to  appear  conspicuous  in 
the  conduct  of  every  mason  ;  but  is  more  especially  commemorative  of  the  star  which 
appeared  in  the  east,  to  guide  the  wise  men  of  Bethlehem,  to  proclaim  the  birth  and  the 
presence  of  the  Son  of  God."     (Allyn,  p.  47.) 

What  connection  can  possibly  exist  between  a  star  and  prudence,  except  allegorically 
in  reference  to  the  caution  that  was  indicated  to  the  Egyptians  by  the  first  appearance 
of  this  star,  which  warned  them  of  approaching  danger? 

Mr.  Converse,  in  his  explanations  of  the  intention  of  this  emblem  in  his  Symbolical 
Chart,  observes,  "  Approaching  evil  is  frequently  averted  by  a  friendly  admonition.'* 
Pluche,  in  a  part  of  his  work  not  quoted  above,  says,  "The  names  given  to  this  public 
sign  were  Anubis  the  barker,  the  giver  of  advices,  or  Tahaut  the  dog."  The  meaning 
then  that  has  been  handed  down  to  masons  of  their  blazing-star,  completely  identifies 
it  with  Anubis  the  dog-star. 

*  Sec  Plutarch  de  Isid.  and  Osiris. ;  also  31.  De  Mallet's  description  of  Egypt. 


8  DOGMAS    AND    CUSTOMS    OF 

The  advice  given  to  the  ancient  Egyptians  by  this  star  was  undoubtedly  very  impor- 
tant to  them,  but  it  cannot  be  of  the  least  advantage  to  the  masons  of  Europe  or  Ame- 
rica. 

As  to  the  allusion  to  the  star  that  guided  the  wise  men  to  Bethlehem,  every  intelligent 
and  candid  mason  will  acknowledge  its  absurdity ;  because  he  must  know,  that  the 
principles  and  dogmas  of  freemasonry,  contained  in  the  ancient  mysteries  from  which 
it  is  derived,  existed  long  before  the  birth  of  Jesus  Christ, 

Webb,  in  his  "  Monitor,"  says,  "The  Mosaic  pavement  is  emblematic  of  human  life, 
chequered  with  good  and  evil;  the  beautiful  border  which  surrounds  it,  those  blessings 
and  comforts  which  surround  us^  and  which  we  hope  to  obtain  by  a  faithful  reUance  on 
divine  providence,  which  is  hieroglyjjhicalbj  represented  by  the  blazing-star  in  the 
center." 

This  symbol  is  peculiarly,  if  not  exclusively,  applicable  to  the  Egyptians  who  inhab- 
ited the  Delta,  who  by  placing  a  reliance  on  the  warning  providentially  given  by  this 
star,  and  in  consequence  retiring  to  the  high  ground  with  the  produce  of  their  agricul- 
ture, might  enjoy  the  comforts  that  surrounded  them. 


The  same  necessity  which  rendered  the  Egyptians  astronomers, 
made  them  also  painters  and  writers.  The  inspection  of  the  hea^^ens 
had  taught  them  at  last  how  to  regulate  their  tillage,  so  strangely  crossed 
by  that  disposition  which  was  peculiar  to  Egypt.  The  custom  of  giving 
symbolical  names  to  the  objects  that  served  them  as  rules,  most  natu- 
rally led  them  to  delineate  in  a  rude  manner  the  figures -of  these  symbols, 
in  order  to  inform. the  nation  of  the  works  in  common  to  be  done,  and 
of  the  annual  events  with  regard  to  which  it  Avas  dangerous  to  misreckon. 
This  service  was  performed  by  a  number  of  persons  appointed  for  that 
purpose  and  maintained  at  the  public  expense,  whose  duty  it  was  to 
study  the  revolutions  and  aspects  of  the  heavenly  bodies,  and  to  com- 
municate the  necessary  information  to  the  people. 

Such  is  the  original  of  the  sacerdotal  order  so  ancient  in  Egypt ;  the 
chief  functions  of  which  always  were  the  study  of  the  heavens  and  the 
inspection  of  the  motions  of  the  air.  Such  is  the  origin  of  the  famous 
tower  where  that  company  was  lodged,  and  where  the  characters  of  the 
several  works  and  the  symbols  of  the  public  regulations  were  carefully 
delineated.  Which  symbols  appeared  in  time  very  mysterious,  when 
the  meaning  of  them  was  forgotten.  That  tower,  the  structure  of  which 
has  caused  so  much  criticism,  was  at  that  time,  without  any  affectation 
of  mystery,  called  the  Labyrinth,  that  is,  the  tower,  the  palace. 

Now,  if  we  would  in  a  reasonable  manner  unriddle  some  of  the  most 
usual  of  the  Egyptian  symbols,  we  ought  to  consult  the  wants  of  the 
Egyptian  colony.  It  is  there  we  are  naturally  to  look  for  the  meaning 
of  the  figures  which  were  exposed  to  the  eyes  of  the  whole  nation 
assembled. 


THE    ANCIENT    EGYPTIANS.  § 

The  hawk  and  the  hoop  were  the  names  and  the  symbolical  figures 
given  the  two  winds,  the  return  whereof  the  Egyptians  were  most  con- 
cerned to  observe.  The  hawk  signified  the  Etesian  northerly  wind, 
which,  in  the  beginning  of  the  summer,  drives  the  vapors  towards  the 
south,  and  which  covering  Ethiopia  with  thick  clouds,  there  resolves 
them  into  rains,  and  makes  the  Nile  swell  all  along  its  course.  The 
hoop,  on  the  contrary,  signified  the  southerly  wind  which  promoted  the 
draining  of  the  waters,  and  the  return  of  which  proclaimed  the  meas- 
uring of  the  lands  and  the  time  of  sowing.  I  must  here  produce  some 
analogy  and  some  peculiar  resemblance,  between  a  hawk  and  a  north- 
erly, a  hoop  and  a  southerly  wind. 

Naturalists  observe,  that  the  hawk  delights  in  the  north ;  but  that  at 
the  return  of  mild  weather,  and  when  she  casts  her  feathers,  she  makes 
southward  with  her  wings  spread,  and  looks  towards  the  place  whence 
a  warm  air  comes,  which  may  assist  the  falling  of  her  own  feathers,  and 
restore  her  the  beauties  of  youth.  In  times  of  the  remotest  antiquity, 
and  even  before  Moses,  the  Arabians,  who  were  the  neighbors  and  allies 
of  the  Egyptians,  had  an  idea  of  the  hawk  in  all  respects  like  that  which 
naturalists  give  us.  In  the  conversation  which  God  had  with  Job,  and 
in  which  he  shows,  that  it  is  not  man,  but  the  Creator,  who,  by  a  spe- 
cial providence,  has  varied  all  the  parts  of  nature,  and  to  good  purpose 
has  regulated  the  inclinations  of  animals :  Does  thi  hawk,  says  he  to 
him,  by  thy  wisdom  shake  her  old  feathers,  to  get  rid  of  them,  and 
stretch  her  wings  towards  the  south?  (Job,  39.  29.)  This  bird  then, 
on  account  of  the  direction  of  its  flight  at  the  return  of  the  heats,  was 
the  most  natural  emblem  of  the  annual  wind,  which  blows  from  north 
to  south  about  the  summer  solstice,  and  which  on  account  of  the  eifects 
of  this  direction  was  of  so  great  importance  to  the  Egyptians. 

The  hoop  on  the  contrary  makes  her  way  from  south  to  north.  She 
lives  upon  the  small  worms,  an  infinite  number  of  which  are  hatched 
in  the  mud  of  the  Nile.  (Diod.  Sic.  Biblioth.  lib.  1.)  She  takes  her 
flight  from  Ethiopia  into  Higher  Egypt,  and  from  thence  towards  Mem- 
phis, where  the  '^We  divides.  She  always  follows  the  course  of  the 
Nile  as  it  retires  within  its  banks,  qite  down  to  the  sea.  From  this 
method  of  hers,  she  was  perfectly  fit  to  characterize  the  direction  of 
the  south  wind.* 

*  A  passage  in  Shakspeare's  Hamlet  seems  evidently  to  allude  to  the  hawk  and  hoop, 
or  hoopoe,  of  Egypt.  Hamlet  says,  *'  my  uncle-father,  and  aunt-mother  are  deceived." 
G,  "In  what  my  lord?"  Ham.  "  I  am  but  mad  north-north  west:  when  the  wind  is 
southerly,  I  know  a  haxck  from  a  handsale."  Thomas  Capell,  editor  of  the  Oxford 
edition  of  Shakspeare,  changes  handsaw  to  hernshaw,  which  renders  the  passage  iutel  • 

'       2 


10  DOGMAS    AND    CUSTOMS    OF 

'  The  warning  given  by  the  dog-star  being  their  most  important 
concern,  the  Egyptians  from  its  rising,  anciently  dated  the  beginning  of 
their  year,  and  the  whole  series  of  their  feasts.  Wherefore,  instead  of 
representing  it  under  the  form  of  a  star,  which  might  not  distinguish 
it  from  another,  they  delmeated  it  under  the  figure  relative  to  its  func- 
tion and  name.  They  called  it  the  star-dog,  the  door-keeper,  the  star 
which  opens  or  shuts,  closing  one  year  as  it  were,  and  opening  another 
When  they  had  a  mind  to  express  the  renewal  of  the  year,  they  rep. 
resented  it  under  the  form  of  a  door-keeper,  easy  to  be  distinguished 
by  the  attribute  of  a  key ;  or  else  they  gave  it  two  heads  back  to  back  • 
the  one  of  an  old  man,  which  marked  ^the  expiring  year,  and  the  other 
of  a  young  one  which  denoted  the  new. 

When  the  people  were  to  be  warned  of  the  time  of  their  retreat 
at  the  approach  of  the  inundation,  instead  of  the  two  heads,  they  then 
put  on  the  shoulders  of  a  human  body,  the  head  of  a  dog.  The  attri- 
butes or  subordinate  symbols,  added  thereto,  were  the  explication  of  the 
warning  it  gave.  It  was  in  order  to  give  the  Egyptians  to  understand, 
they  were  to  take  with  them  a  store  of  provisions,  and  repair  with 
all  speed  to  the  high  ground,  or  their  raised  terraces,  and  there  to 
remain  quiet  by  the  water  side,  that  Anubis  had  on  his  arm  a  kettle  or 
porrige-pot,  wings  on  his  feet,  in  his  right  hand,  or  under  his  arm  a 
large  feather,  and  behind  him  a  tortoise  or  duck,  both  amphibious 
animals,  which  live  on  the  earth  and  by  the  water  side. 

The  Egyptians  expressed  the  several  increases  of  their  swelling 
river,  by  a  column  marked  with  one,  two  or  three  lines  in  form  of  a 
cross,  and  surmounted  with  a  circle,  the  symbol  of  God,  to  character- 
ize providence,  which  governs  this  important  operation.  More  com- 
monly, instead  of  a  column,  they  made  use  of  a  pole  terminated  like 
a  T,  or  crossed  with  one  or  more  transverse  pieces.  To  abridge  these 
remarks,  they  were  often  contented  with  one  small  cross; — which 
put  upon  a  vessel  or  elsewhere  might  signify  the  increase  of  the 
water. 

ligible.  Hernshaw  or  hern  is  but  another  name  for  heron,  of  which  there  arc  varioue 
species ;  the  tufted  or  crowned  heron  is  also  denominated  hoopoe.  This  kind  is  very 
rare  in  Europe,  but  in  Africa,  they  associate  in  great  numbers.  They  feed  upon  worms, 
and,  in  Egypt,  follow,  as  above  stated,  the  retreat  of  the  Nile.     Sec  Rees's  Cycl. 

Hamlet,  though  feigning  madness,  yet  claims  sufficient  sanity  to  distinguish  a  hawk 
from  a  hernehaw,  when  the  wind  is  soidherly ;  that  is,  in  the  time  of  the  migration  of 
the  latter  to  the  north,  and  when  the  former  is  not  to  be  seen. 

If  it  be  said  that  Shakspoare  was  not  probably  acquainted  with  the  customs  of  these 
migrating  birds  of  Egypt,  I  answer,  that  several  of  the  works  of  Plutarch,  who  irivcs 
a  particular  account  of  that  country,  were  translated  into  English,  by  Thomas  North, 
in  about  the  middle  of  the  sixteenth  century,  and  no  doubt  were  known  to  Shakspeare, 
whose  Hamlet  was  first  published  in  Vo%,—EdU. 


THE    ANCIENT    EGYPTIANS.  11 

It  is  certain  that  the  Mikias,  or  column  marked  as  above  stated, 
to  signify  the  progress  of  the  water,  became  in  Egypt  the  ordinary 
sign  of  the  deliverance  from  evil.  They  hung  it  on  the  neck  of  sick 
persons,  and  put  it  in  the  hand  of  all  beneficial  deities.  Mr.  Gordon, 
Secretary  of  the  Society  for  the  encouragement  of  learning,  has  given 
us  in  the  seventh  plate  of  his  collection,  the  amulets  and  preservatives 
which  he  has  observed  in  the  Egyptian  monuments ;  many  of  which 
are  perfectly  like  the  measure  of  the  Nile. 

They  painted  the  devastation  made  by  the  overflowing  water  under 
the  figure  of  a  dragon,  of  a  crocodile,  a  hippopotamus,  or  a  water 
monster,  which  they  called  ob,*  that  is,  swelling,  an  overflowing  ;  and 
which  they  afterwards  called  Python,  the  enemy,  f 

Another  method  of  communicating  to  the  people  information  res- 
pecting the  inundation,  seems  to  have  been  by  publicly  exposing  three 
vessels  or  measures,  being  pitchers  of  unequal  capacities,  well  known 
to  the  people  without  any  proclamation  or  messengers,  which  served 
to  show  them  the  increase  and  diminution  of  the  Nile.  Two  things 
persuade  me  that  this  is  the  meaning  of  these  vessels  or  bulging  mea, 
sures,  so  commonly  found  in  the  Egyptian  monuments!  One  is  the 
name  given  them  ;  the  other  is  the  attributes  annexed.  The  name 
canoh  or  canopus  given  to  these  vessels,  is  grounded  on  the  use  made 
of  them.  Canob  signifies  the  fatham  of  the  dragon,  the  measure  of 
the  overflowing.  From — Cane,  a  perch,  a  fatham,  a  rod  or  cane  to 
measure  ;  and  from — ob,  the  dragon. 

The  canopi  are  very  commonly  terminated  by  one  or  two  crosses. 
The  top  of  the  vase  is  also  oftentimes  surmounted  with  several  bird's 
heads,  to  signify  and  characterize  the  several  winds  which  they  know, 
and  which  either  assisted  or  retarded  the  increase  or  the  lowering  of 
the  waters,  sometimes  they  put  upon  the  canopus  the  head  of  a  dog,  to 
signify  the  state  of  the  river  or  the  time  of  the  rising  of  the  dog  star, 
At  another  time  they  put  theieon  the  head  of  a  maid,  to  mark  out  the 
state  of  the  Nile  under  the  sign  of  the  virgin,  and  at  the  approach  of 
the  draining  or  retiring  of  the  water. 

* .  ob.  Levit.  20,  v.  27. 


t  Mount  Cassius,  to  the  foot  of  which  the  inundation  of  the  Nile  extended,  a  little 
above  the  ancient  City  of  Pelusium  or  the  modern  Damietta,  derives  its  najne  from  a 
word  which  signifies  the  bound  or  term  of  this  inundation  ;  and  the  sandy  coast  near 
it  was  called  Cassiobe  for  the  same  reason.  And  it  was  because  the  lake  Sirbon,  or 
Sirbonis,  which  is  near  it,  was  still  full  of  the  remains  of  the  inundation  when  Egypt 
was  quite  dry,  that  it  was  said  Pyt/wn  had  gone  to  die  in  this  lake.  It  was  moreover 
so  full  of  bitumen  and  of  oily  or  combustible  maters,  that  it  was  imagined  that  Jupi- 
ter had  their  pierced  him  with  a  thunderbolt,  which  filled  all  the  great  morass  with 
sulpher. 


•% 


12  DOGMAS    AND    CUSTOMS    OF 

It  appears  that  the  ancient  Egyptians,  after  they  had  ascertained  the  great  benefit 
of  the  inundation  when  they  were  properly  prepared  for  it,  changed  the  name  of  theii 
Evil  Genius,  the  Water  Monster  from  06*  to  Python  ;  which  had  reference  to  the  deadly 
effects  of  the  miasmata  arising  from  the  stagnant  waters  left  upon  the  low  lands 
after  the  retiring  of  the  inundation.  "  Ovid  makes  the  serpent  PytJwn  spring  from 
the  steams  of  the  mud  which  the  deluge  had  left  upon  the  earth  ;  and  in  this,  he  is 
plainly  making  an  allusion  to  Typhon,  whose  name  is  the  same  by  a  simple  transposi- 
tion. In  making  Python  spnng  from  the  slime  of  the  deluge,  does  not  the  Poet  point 
out  thereby  the  noxious  steams  which  rise  in  Egypt  after  the  waters  of  the  Nile  have 
•ubsided.  In  fine,  when  he  says  that  Apollo  slew  him  with  his  arrows,  does  he  not  con- 
ceal under  this  emblem,  the  victory  of  Oru*  over  Typhon,  or  at  least  the  triumph  of  the 
sun  beams  over  the  vapors  of  the  Nile  ?"  (Mayo's  Myth.  vol.  ii.  p.  47.)  Python,  says 
Bailey,  is  derived  from  pytho,  Gr.  to  putrify.  The  serpent  Python's  being  slain  byApollo, 
is  thus  interpreted  :  by  Python  is  understood  the  ruins  of  waters ;  but  AppoUo  (that  is 
the  sun)  dispersing  the  vapors  by  his  arrows  (that  is  his  beams)  slew  this  serpent. 

Typhus,  a  species  of  continued  fever,  has  the  same  origin.  "It  may  be  occasioned 
(says  Hooper,  in  his  Medical  Diet.)  by  the  effluvia  arising  from  either  animal  or  vegi- 
iable  substances  in  a  decayed  or  putrid  state  :  and  hence  it  is,  that  in  low  and  marshy 
countries  it  is  apt  to  be  prevalent,  when  intense  and  sultry  heat  quickly  succeeds  an  y 
great  inundation." 

The  convenience  of  that  language,  which  rendered  itself  intelligible 
to  the  eyes,  and  in  some  sense  made  animals  and  even  stones  them- 
selves to  speak,  by  degrees  became  more  common.  It  was  extended 
to  every  thing.  The  symbolical  writing  soon  served  as  the  rule  of 
morals,  as  well  as  the  regulation  of  husbandry.  It  was  made  use  of 
to  perpetrate  among  the  people,  the  knowledge  of  the  most  important 
truths,  and  to  inculcate  their  principal  duties,  f 

The  character  of  the  Egyptian  writing  designed  to  signify  God, 
was  not  a  simple  flame  or  blaze,  as  was  the  general  usage  of  the  East 
but  a  circle,  or  rather  a  sun.  They  added  to  the  circle  or  solar  globe 
several  marks,  or  attributes  which  served  to  characterize  so  many  dif- 
ferent perfections.  For  instance,  in  order  to  indicate  that  the  Supreme 
Being  is  the  author  and  preserver  of  life,  they  annexed  to  the  circle 
sometimes  two  points  of  flame,  but  more  commonly  one  or  two  ser- 
pents. This  animal  was  always,  among  the  Egyptians,  as  in  other 
countries,  the  symbol  of  life  and  health.  Not  because  the  serpent 
makes  itself  look   young  again,  by  every   year  casting  its  old   skin, 

♦  The  descendants  of  Africa,  in  the  West  Indies,  still  retain  the  name  of  c&,  or  obi, 
by  whose  aid  they  pretend  to  magical  powers.— J^rfi/. 

t  The  custom  of  conveying  moral  instruction  by  symbolical  figures  hais  descended 
to  the  masons,  that  is,  a  show  of  it  is  kept  up  by  them,  but  without  being  seriously 
regarded.  The  practice  is  now  a  mere  dead  letter  ;  showing,  however,  the  force  of 
haLit  in  continuing  a  custom  no  longer  needed.  Too  much  light  is  now  abroad  in  the 
world,  to  require  the  square  and  compasses,  to  direct  men  in  their  duties.  The  contin- 
uance of  these  old  practices  notwithstanding,  is  of  us^c  in  pointing  out  the  origiu  of  the 
institution  that  observes  xhcm.— Edit. 


THE     ANCIENT    EGYPTIANS.  13 

but  because  among  most  of  the  eastern  nations,  as  the  Phenicians, 
Hebrews,  Arabians,  and  others,  with  the  language  of  whom  that  of 
Egypt  had  an  affinity,  the  word  here  or  heva  equally  signifies  the  life, 
and  a  serpent.  The  name  of  him  who  is,  the  great  name  of  God  Jov 
or  Jehova  thence  draws  its  etymology.  Heve  or  the  name  of  the 
common  mother  of  mankind  comes  likewise  from  the  same  word. 

It  is  from  this  word  that  the  Latins  made  their  cctmm,  the  life  and 
the  ave,  which  is  a  wish  of  good  health. 

St.  Clement  of  Alexandria,  observes,  that  the  word  heva,  which 
is  known  to  signify  the  life,  likewise  signifies  a  serpent.  And  it  is 
barely  on  a  double  meaning  of  the  word  hevi  or  heva,  that  the  meta- 
morphosis of  Cadmas  and  Hermione  into  serpents  is  grounded,  (Ovid, 
Metam. )     They  were  of  the  country  of  the  Hevians. 

Macrobius  has  informed  us  that  the  serpent  was  an  emblem  of 
health,  salutis  draco,  speaking  of  Esculapius.  When  Moses  lifted  up 
a  brazen  serpent  in  the  wilderness,  the  afflicted  Hebrews  understood, 
that  it  Avas  a  sign  of  preservation.* 

To  express  the  wonderful  fecundity  of  providence,  they  added  to 
the  symbolical  circle  the  figures  of  the  most  fruitful  plants,  and  most 
commonly  two  or  three  large  leaves  of  the  banana-tree. 

The  solar  year. — Osiris. 

The  year  relates  to  three  principal  objects.  To  the  course  of  the 
sun  ;  the  order  of  the  feasts  of  each  season,  and  to  the  works  in  com- 
mon to  be  done.     Let  us  begin  with  the  symbols  of  the  sun. 

That  luminary,  as  it  was  the  grandest  object  in  nature,  had  also  its 
peculiar  character  or  mark  in  the  symbolical  writing.  It  was  called 
Osiris.  This  word,  according  to  the  most  judicious  and  most  learned 
among  the  ancients,!  signified  the  inspector,  the  coachman,  or  the 
leader,  the  king,  the  guide,  the  moderator  of  the  stars,  the  soul  of  the 
world,  the  governor  of  nature.  From  the  energy  of  the  terms  of  which 
it  was  composed,  it  signified  in  general  the  governor  of  the  earth, 
which  amounts  to  the  same  sense.  And  it  is  because  they  gave  that 
name  and  function  to  the  sun,  that  it  was  expressed  in   their  writing' 

*  In  one  of  the  modern  degrees  of  masonry,  entitled  Tlie  Brazen  Serpent,  the 
Jewel  is  a  serpent  entwined  upon  a  cross  pole,  in  form  of  a  T,  about   which  are  the 

Hebrew  characters which  signify  one  who  shall  live.     The  covered  word  is  John 

Ralp,  the  founder  of  this  degree.  The  sacred  word  is  Moses.  This  degree  has  refer- 
ence to  the  deliverance  of  the  Israelites,  from  captivity.     (Benard,) — Edit.  / 

t  Plutarch  de  Isid,  and  Isirid,  and  Macrob,  Dux  and  priuceps,  moderator  luminum, 
rehquorum,  mens  mundi,  and  emperatio. 


€1 


14  '  DOGMAS    AND    CUSTOMS    OF 

sometimes  by  the  figure  of  a  man  bearing  a  scepter,  sometimes  by 
that  of  a  coachman  carrying  a  whip,  or  plainly  by  an  eye* 

They  were  often  contented  with  setting  down  the  marks  of  his  dig- 
nity, such  as  a  scepter  surmounted  with  an  eye,  or  a  scepter  with  a 
serpent  twined  round  it,  the  symbol  of  life  which  the  sun  maintains,  or 
barely  the  whip  and  the  scepter  united  ;  sometimes  the  royal  cap  of 
Osiris  on  a  throne,  with  or  without  a  scepter. 

The  Egyptians  every  where  saw,  and  especially  in  the  place  of 
their  religious  assemblies,  a  circle  or  the  figure  of  the  sun.  Near  the 
sun,  over  the  head  of  the  symbolical  figures,  were  seen  sometimes  one 
or  two  serpents,  the  symbol  of  life,  sometimes  certain  foliages,  the  sym- 
bols of  the  bounties  of  nature ;  sometimes  scarabeus's  wings  the  em- 
blem of  the  variations  of  the  air.  All  these  things  being  connected  with 
the  object  of  their  adorations,  they  entertained  a  sort  of  veneration  for 
the  serpent,  which  they  besides  saw  honorably  placed  in  the  small  chest 
that  was  the  memorial  of  the  state  of  the  first  men,  and  the  other  cere- 
monies whose  meaning  began  to  be  lost. 

Having  already  contracted  a  habit  of  confounding  the  Most  High 
with  the  sun,  they  by  little  and  little  mistook  the  symbol  itself  of  the 
sun,  the  Osiris,  the  moderator  of  the  year,  for  a  man.  Osiris,  from  the 
letter  or  symbolical  personage  he  was  before,  becoming  in  the  minds 
of  the  people  a  real  person,  a  man  who  had  formerly  lived  among 
them,  they  made  his  history  to  relate  to  the  attributes  which  attended 
the  figure.  So  soon  as  Egypt  was  possessed  with  the  ridiculous  notion, 
that  the  statues  of  Osiris,  Isis,  and  Horus,  which  served  to  regulate 
society,  by  their  respective  significations,  were  monuments  of  their 
founders ;  that  Osiris  had  lived  in  Egppt,  and  had  been  intered  there, 
they  framed  stories  agreeable  to  this  belief  For  want  of  a  tomb 
containing  in  reality  the  body  of  Hammond  or  Osiris,  they  were  con- 
tented with  a  cenotaph,  an  empty  tomb.  A  vast  concourse  of  people 
gathered  near  these  pretended  tombs,  and  with  pomp  celebrated  an 
annual  feast  there.  Plutarch  often  mentions  the  feasts  of  Osiris's 
tomb,  and  informs  us,  that  when  the  Egyptians  were  reproached  with 
placing  in  heaven  gods  whose  tombs  they  showed,  their  reply  was, 
that  the  bodies  of  these  gods  had  been  embalmed  and  interred  in 
Egypt ;  but  that  their  souls  resided  among  the  stars. 

♦  "  Eye  and  sun  are  expressed  by  the  same  word  in  most  of  the  ancient  languages 
of  Asia."^  (Ruins  p.  159.) 

This  is  one  of  the  emblems  of  masonry,  called  Uic  all  seeinp;  eye,  and  said  to  repre ' 
scut  the  true  God  ;  whereas  it  is  nothing  more  than  a  symbol  of  the  sun  made  use  of 
by  the  ancient  Egyptians,  and  from  them  descended  to  tng  masons.— £di/. 


THE    ANCIENT    EGYPTIANS.  15 

These  tombs,  tho  merely  representative,  were  become  a  necessary 
part  of  the  ceremonial.  The  Cretians,  being  of  Egyptian  extraction, 
had  their  own  feast  of  Osiris  or  Jehov,  the  feast  of  their  god,  and  of 
course  the  empty  tomb  was  inseparable  from  that  solemnity.* 


Death  and  Resurrection  of  Osiris. 

The  author  here  gives  a  complex  figure,  copied  from  the  collection  of  Mountfaucon 
and  which,  he  says,  is  painted  on  a  mummy  at  the  Austin-fry ar's  of  La  Place  des 
Victoires,  representing  the  death  and  resurrection  of  Osiris,  and  the  beginning,  pro- 
gress, and  end  of  the  inundation  of  the  Nile. 

The  sign  of  the  lion  is  transformed  into  a  couch,  upon  which  Osiris  is  laid  out  as 
dead  ;  under  which  are  four  canopi  of  various  capacities,  indicating  the  state  of  the 
Nile  at  differeat  periods.  The  first,  is  terminated  by  the  head  of  the  dog-star,  which 
gives  warning  of  the  approach  of  the  overflow  of  the  river  ;  the  second  by  the  head 
of  a  hawk,  the  symbol  of  the  Etesian  wind,  which  tends  to  swell  the  waters ;  the 
third  by  the  head  of  a  Heron,  the  sign  of  the  south  wind,  which  contributes  to  propel 
the  water  into  the  Medeterranean  sea  ;  and  the  fourth  by  that  of  the  Virgin,  which 
indicates  that  when  the  sun  had  passed  that  sign,  the  inundation  would  have  nearly 
subsided. 

To  the  above  is  superadded  a  large  Anubis,  who  with  an  emphatic  jesture,  turning 
towards  Isis  who  has  an  empty  throne  on  her  head,  intimates  that  the  sun,  by  the 
aid  of  the  Hon,  had  cleared  the  difficult  pass  of  the  tropic  of  Cancer,  and  was  now  in 
the  sign  of  the  latter,  and,  altho  in  a  state  of  exhaustion,  would  soon  be  in  a  condi- 
tion to  proceed  on  his  way  to  the  South  ;  at  the  same  time,  gives  to  the  husbandman 
the  important  warning  of  retireing  to  avoid  the  inundation.  The  empty  throne  is  indi- 
cative of  its  being  vacated  by  the  supposed  death  of  Osiris. 

The  raising  of  grand  master  Hiram,  in  the  third  degree  of  Masonry,  by  the  "  grip  or 
paw  of  the  Ldon,''  (the  terms  used  in  that  operation)  who,  as  the  story  goes,  had  been 
murdered  by  three  fellows  of  the  craft,  is  evidently  copied  from  this  fable  of  the  death 
and  resurrection  of  Osiris.  The  position  of  the  master  Mason,  when  in  the  act  of 
raising  Hiram,  is  a  fac  simile  of  that  of  Anubis  over  the  body  of  Osiris. 

Mr.  Pluche  seems  not  to  have  had  an  adequate  conception  of  the  fabled  death  of 
Osiris,  and  consequently  to  have  mistaken  the  purport  of  the  figure  now  under  consid 
cration  I  therefore  offer  the  foregoing  expHcation  as  the  result  of  my  investigation  of 
the  subject.  ^ 

Mr.  Pluche  candidly  acknowledges  that  he  had  doubts  of  his  understanding  the 
intention  of  the  picture  which  he  endeavors  to  expound  ;  for  he  says,  immediately  after 
giving  his  explanation,  "  But  it  would  be  a  rashness  in  me  to  presume  to  write  any 
longer  in  Egyptian,  when  I  am  not  as  yet  over  sure  of  my  skill  in  reading  it.  Let  us 
first  of  all  confirm  ourselves  therein,  and  again  try  the  application  of  our  principles  to 
some  other  monuments.  "  He  adds,  in  a  note,  "  We  shall  in  another  place  ex[)lain  why 
this  figure  is  used  about  a  dead  body,  when  we  show  how  the  sense  of  these  symbols 
came  to  be  preverted. " 

This  he  afterwards  attempts  to  do  as  follows ; — 

"Thus  being  gradually  come  to  ascribing  divinity,  and  offering  their  worship  to  the 
ruler,  representing  the  functions  of  the  sun,  they  to  complete  the  absurdity,  took  him 

*  The  coffin  of  Hiram  has  a  place  among  the  emblematical  figures  of  masonry.-  Edit. 


IG  DOGMAS    AND    CUSTOMS    OF 

for  the  first  of  their  kings.  Thence  this  odd  mixture  of  three  inconsistent  notions,  I 
mean  of  God,  of  the  Sun,  and  of  a  dead  man,  which  the  Egyptians  perpetually  con- 
founded together." 

The  cause  of  their  thus  confounding  them  is  easily  accounted  for,  when  the  sup- 
posed death  of  Osiris,  the  sun,  and  God  of  the  Egyptians,  is  taken  into  consideration. 
It  must  be  understood  that  the  sun  was  supposed  to  be  in  insurmountable  difficulties 
at  both  the  solstices,  which  caused  as  great  lamentations  as  his  victories  and  reap- 
pearance afterwards,  did  rejoicings.  What  led  to  these  apprehensions  when  he  was 
in  the  summer  solstice,  is  well  explained,  in  Rees's  Cyclopedia,  as  follows  :— 

"  Orus  or  Horus,*  a  famous  Deity  of  Egypt,  which,  as  well  as  Osiris,  was  an  emblem  of 
the  sun.  Macrobius,  who  informs  us  why  the  Greeks  gave  Horus  the  name  of  Apollo, 
says,  in  the  mysteries  (Saturn,  lib.  1,)  they  discover  us  a  secret  which  ought  to  be 
inviolable,  that  the  sun  arrived  at  the  upper  hemisphere,  is  called  Apollo.  Hence  we 
may  infer,  that  this  emblematical  Deity  was  no  other  than  the  star  of  day,  passing 
through  the  signs  of  summer.  As  Apollo  among  the  Greeks  was  called  the  Horus 
of  the  Egyptians,  as  to  his  skill  both  m  Medicine  and  divination,  he  was  regarded  as 
the  same  person,  and  called  by  the  ancients  Horus-Apollo.t  The  Allegory  of  Horus 
has  been  thus  explained.  The  wind  Rhamsin  makes  great  ravages  in  Egypt  in  the 
spring,  by  raising  whirlwinds,  of  burning  sands,  which  suffocate  travellers,  darken  the 
air,  and  cover  the  face  of  the  Sun,  so  as  to  leave  the  earth  in  perfect  obscurity.  This 
circumstance  represents  thede^ih  of  Osiris,  and  the  reign  of  Typhon.  When  the  sun 
approaches  the  sign  of  the  lion,  he  changes  the  state  of  the  atmosphere,  disperses 
these  tempests,  and  restores  the  northerly  viands,  which  drives  before  them  the  malig- 
nant vapors,  and  preserve  in  Egypt  coolness  and  salubrity  under  a  burning  sky.  This 
is  the  triumph  of  Horus  over  Typhon,  and  his  glorious  reign.  As  some  natural  phi- 
losophers have  acknowledged  the  influence  of  the  moon  over  the  state  of  the  atmos- 
phere, they  united  her  with  this  god  to  drive  away  the  usuri)er  from  the  throne.  The 
priests  considering  Osiris  as  the  father  of  time,  might  bestow  the  name  of  his  son  on 
Horus,  who  reigned  three  months  in  the  year. 

Jablonski,  who  has  interpreted  the  epithet  of  Arueri,  which  the  Egyptians  gave  to 
Horus,  pretends  that  it  signifies  eficatious  virtue.  These  expressions  perfectly  charac- 
terize the  phenomina  which  happened  during  the  reign  of  this  god.  It  is  in  summer, 
in  fact,  that  the  Sun  manifests  all  his  powers  in  Egypt.  It  is  then  that  he  swells 
the  waters  of  the  River  with  rains,  exhaled  by  him  in  the  air,  and  driven  against  the 
summit  of  the  Abysinian  Mountains  ;  it  is  then  that  the  husbandman  reckons  on  the 
treasures  of  agriculture.  It  was  natural  for  them  to  honor  him  with  the  name  of 
Arueri,  or  eflScatious  virtue,  to  mark  these  auspicious  effects." — (Savery's  Letters  in 
Egypt,  etc.) 

The  reasons  which  the  inhabitants  of  northern  climates  have  for  lamenting  the 
absence  of  the  eun  when  in  the  southern  hemisphere,  is  thus  beautifully  portrayed  by 
Dupuis  : 

"  We  have,  in  our  explication  of  the  labors  of  Hercules,  considered 
the  sun  principally  as  the  potent  star,  the  depository  of  all  the  ener- 
gies of  nature,  who  creates  and  measures  time  by  his  march  through 
the  heavens,  and  who,  taking  his  departure  from  the  summer  solstice 

♦  Authors  write  this  name  differently  :  in  the  Greek,  from  which  it  seems  to  be 
copied,  the  first  letter,  omega,  is  aspirated.— £di<. 

t "  Onis  was  more  particularly  Osiris  in  his  second  state,  and  therefore  represented 
by  the  Egyptians  as  a  child."— (HolweU,s  Mytlu  Diet.)— .Be/if. 


,  THE    ANCIENT    EGYPTIANS.  17 

or  the  most  elevated  point  of  his  route,  runs  over  the  course  of  the 
twelve  signs  in  which  the  celestial  bodies  move,  and  with  them  the  dif- 
ferent periods  or  revolutions  of  the  stars,  under  the  name  of  Osiris  or  of 
Bacchus,  we  shall  see  this  beneficent  star,  who,  by  his  heat,  in  spring, 
calls  forth  all  the  powers  of  generation  ;  who  governs  the  growth  of 
plants  and  of  trees  ;  who  ripens  the  fruits,  and  who  dispenses  to  all 
seeds  that  active  sap  which  is  the  soul  of  vegetation,  and  is  the  true 
character  of  the  Egyptian  Osiris  and  the  Greek  Bacchus.  It  is  above 
all  in  spring-time  that  this  humid  generator  developes  itself,  and  cir- 
culates in  all  the  rising  productions  ;  and  it  is  this  sun,  by  its  heat 
that  impels  its  movements  and  gives  its  fertilit}''. 

"  We  may  distinguish  two  points  in  the  heavens  which  limit  the 
duration  of  the  creative  action  of  the  sun,  and  these  two  points  are 
those  where  the  night  and  the  day  are  of  equal  length.  All  the  grand 
work  of  vegetation,  in  a  great  part  of  northern  climates,  appears  to  be 
comprised  between  these  two  limits,  and  its  progressive  march  is 
found  to  be  in  proportion  to  that  of  light  and  heat.  Scarcely  has  the 
sun,  in  his  annual  route  attained  one  of  these  points,  than  an  active 
and  prolific  force  appears  to  emanate  from  his  rays,  and  to  communi- 
cate movement  and  life  to  all  sublunary  bodies,  which  he  brings  to 
the  light  by  a  new  organization.  It  is  then  that  the  resurrection  of 
the  great  god  takes  place,  and  with  his  that  of  all  nature.  Having 
arrived  at  the  opposite  point,  that  power  seems  to  abandon  him,  and 
nature  becomes  sensible  of  his  weakness.  It  is  Atys,  whose  mutila- 
tion Cybele  deplored  ;  it  is  Adonis,  wounded  in  the  virile  parts,  of 
which  Venus  regretted  the  loss  ;  it  is  Osiris,  precipitated  into  the  tbmb 
by  Typhon,  and  whose  organs  of  generation  the  disconsolate  Isis 
never  found. 

*'  What  picture  more  effectual  to  render  man  sorrowful  than  that  of 
the  earth  when,  by  the  absence  of  the  sun,  she  finds  herself  deprived 
of  her  attire,  of  her  verdure,  of  her  foliage,  and  when  she  offers  to  our 
regard  only  the  wreck  of  plants  dried  wp  or  turned  to  putrefaction,  of 
naked  trunks,  of  arid  lands  without  culture,  or  covered  with  snow  • 
of  rivers  overflowed  in  the  fields,  or  chained  in  their  bed  by  the  ice, 
or  of  violent  winds  that  overturn  every  thing.  What  has  become  of 
that  happy  temperature  which  the  earth  enjoyed  in  the  spring  and  dur- 
ing the  summer  ?  that  harmony  of  the  elements,  which  was  in  accord 
with  that  of  the  heavens  ?  that  richness,  that  beauty  of  our  fields  loaded 
with  grain  and  fruits,  or  enameled  with  flowers  whose  odour  per- 
fumed the  air,  and  whose  variegated  colors  presented' "S' spectacle  so 

3  * 


:^..f?L 


18  DOGMAS  AND  CUSTOMS  OF 

ravishing.  All  has  disappeared,  and  the  happiness  of  man  has 
departed  with  the  god,  who,  by  his  presence,  embellished  our  climes  ; 
his  retreat  has  plunged  the  earth  into  mourning  from  which  nothing 
but  his  return  can  free  her. 

"  He  was  then  the  creator  of  all  these  benefits,  since  we  are  deprived 
of  them  by  his  departure  ;  he  was  the  soul  of  vegetation,  since  it 
languished  and  ceased  as  soon  as  he  quitted  us.  What  will  be  the 
term  of  his  flight  and  of  his  descent  into  other  regions  ?  Is  he  going 
to  replunge  nature  into  the  eternal  shade  of  chaos,  from  whence  his 
presence  had  drawn  it  ? ' 

"  Such  were  the  inquietudes  of  these  ancient  people,  who,  seeing  the 
sun  retiring  from  their  climate,  feared  that  it  might  one  day  happen 
that  he  would  abandon  them  altogether  :  from  thence  arose  the  feasts  of 
Hope,  celebrated  at  the  winter  solstice,  when  they  saw  this  star  check 
his  movement,  and  change  his  route  to  return  towards  them.  But  if 
the  hope  of  his  approach  was  so  sensibly  felt,  what  joy  would  not  be 
experienced  when  the  sun,  already  remounted  towards  the  middle  of 
heaven,  had  chased  before  him  the  darkness  which  had  encroached 
upon  the  light,  and  usurped  a  part  of  its  empire.*  Then  the  equili- 
brium of  the  day  and  the  night  is  reestablished,  and  with  it  the  order 
of  nature.  A  new  order  of  things  as  beautiful  as  the  first  recom- 
mences, and  the  earth,  rendered  fruitful  by  the  heat  of  the  sun,  who 
had  renewed  the  vigor  of  youth,  embellishes  herself  under  the  rays  of 
her  lord."    (Abrege  de  I'Origine  de  tous  lescultes,  p.  142.) 

The  civil  year. — Isis. 

We  might  here  reasonably  enough  call  the  order  of  the  feasts  the 
ecclesiastical  year,  since  they  were  religious  assemblies.  But  this 
order  of  the  days  appointed  for  working  or  for  religious  purposes 
being  the  rule  of  society,  we  shall  call  it  the  civil  year. 

The  figure  of  the  man,  who  rules  over  every  thing  on  earth,  had 
been  thought  the  most  proper  emblem  to  represent  the  sun,  which 
enlivens  all  nature  :  and  when  they  wanted  a  characteristic  of  the  pro- 
duction of  the  earth,  they  pitched  upon  the  other  sex.     The  changes  of 

nature,  the  succession  of  seasons,  and  the  several  productions  of  the 

_ »  — — 

*  1  will  here  remark,  that  all  the  talk  put  into  the  mouth  of  Masonic  candidates  about 
wanting  light  and  more  light,  relates  to  a  phy.sical  and  not  to  a  mental  benefit  :  it 
has  reference  to  the  light  of  the  sun.  In  fact,  on  taking  the  bandage  from  the  eyes  of 
a  candidate,  the  blaze  of  many  tapers  is  exhibited  before  him  in  satisfaction  of  his 
desires,  with  this  declaration  of  the  master.  "  And  God  said  let  there  be  light,  and 
there  was  light."  These  ceremonies  are  emblematical  of  the  sun's  return  to  the  north- 
ern hemisphere.— JS7di^ 


,       THK    ANCIENT    EGYPTIANS.  19 

earth,  which  no  doubt  were  the  subject  of  the  common  thanksgivings, 
might  easily  be  expressed  by  the  several  dresses  given  this  woman.* 
When  the  sacrifice  was  intended  to  be  made  in  the  day,  Isis  was 
dressed  in  lohite,  but  if  in  the  night  she  was  dressed  in  black.  They 
put  a  sickle  in  her  hand  to  denote  the  time  of  harvest.  When  the  pur- 
pose of  a  feast  was  to  remind  the  people  of  the  security  afforded  by 
their  dwellings,  Isis  was  crowned  with  small  towers,  f  To  intimate 
the  winter  neomenia,  the  head  of  Isis  was  covered  with  little  fillets 
and  with  skins  sewed  together  ;  sometimes  with  feathers  ranged  one 
over  the  other,  or  with  small  shells  neatly  set  hy  each  other.  %  There 
were  sometimes  on  the  head  of  Isis  a  craw-fish  or  crab,  sometimes 
the  horns  of  a  wild   goat,  according  as   they  had  a  mind   to   signify 

*  *'  On  comparing  the  different  explanations  given  by  Plutarch,  and  other  ancient 
writers,  it  will  appear  that  Osiris  is  the  type  of  the  active,  generating  ana  beneficent 
force  of  nature  and  the  elements  ;  Isis,  on  the  contrary,  is  the  passive  force,  the  power 
of  conceiving  and  bringing  forth  into  life  in  the  sublunary  world.  Osiris  was  par- 
ticularly adored  in  the  sun,  whose  rays  vivify  and  impart  new  warmth  to  the  earth, 
and  who  on  his  annual  return  in  the  spring,  appears  to  create  anew,  all  organic  bodies. 
Isis  was  the  earth,  or  sublunary  nature,  in  general ;  or,  in  a  more  confined  sense,  the 
soil  of  Egypt  inundated  by  the  Nile,  the  principle  of  all  fecundity,  the  goddess  of  gen- 
eration and  production.  United  to  one  another,  Osiris  and  Isis  typify  the  universal 
being,  the  soul  of  nature,  the  Pantheus  of  the  Orphic  verses.          * '      *        ♦        ♦ 

•'  The  Egyptians  solemnized,  at  the  new  moon  of  Phamenoth  (March,)  the  entrance 
0f  Osiris  into  the  moon,  which  planet  he  was  believed  to  fecundate,  that  it  might  in 
turn  fecundate  the  Earth.  (Plut.  de  Is  et  os.)  Finally,  on  the  30th,  of  Epiphi,  (24th, 
of  July,)  the  festival  of  the  birth  oi  Horus  took  place,  (of  Horus  the  representative  of 
Osiris,  the  conquerer  of  Typhon,)  in  the  second  great  period."— Anthon's  Lemp.  Class. 
Diet.  Art.  Isis.) 

The  first  conquest  of  Osiris  over  Typhon  was  at  the  winter  solstice,  and  then  the 
birth  of  a  renewed  sun  was  celebrated  ;  the  second  conquest,  as  above  stated,  was 
attributed  to  Horus,  which,  or  rather  Horus  Apollo,  as  before  observed,  was  the  name 
given  to  the  sun  when  in  the  northern  hemisphere,  or  at  least  after  his  passing  the  sum- 
mer solstice. 

One  of  the  grand  festival  days  of  masons  is  on  the  24th.,  of  June.  The  cause  of 
this  variation  from  the  ancient  custom  arises  from  the  precession  of  the  equirioxea, 
which  has  caused  the  northern  solstice  to  occur  on  that  day,  when  the  sun  is  in  the 
sign  Cancer  ;  whereas  it  was  in  Leo  (July  24th,)  that  this  solstice  took  place  in  ancient 
times  during  2160  years.  This  is  the  reason  why  the  Egyptians  consecrated  this 
animal  to  the  sun,  while  in  its  full  strength,  and  as  the  forerunner  of  the  summer  sol- 
stice, of  the  rise  of  the  Nile  and  its  succeeding  overflow,  which  caused  the  fertility  of 
Egypt.    (See  "  Truth  drawn  from  Fables"  by  Dr.  Constantio.) 

t  It  is  a  little  remarkable,  that  one  of  the  significations  given  to  tower,  is  high  head- 
dress . — Edit. 

t  This  is  Mosaic  work,  and  was  no  doubt  intended  to  represent  in  anticipation  the 
variegated  face  of  the  earth  in  the  approaching  season,  after  the  sun  had  changed  his 
course  to  return  to  the  northern  hemisphere.— ^dii. 


20  DOGMAS    AND    CUSTOMS    OP 

either  the  entering  of  the  sun  into  the  sign  cancer,  or  the  feast  that 
was  solemnized  at  his  entering  into  that  of  Capricorn.  In  Egypt, 
where  the  inhabitants  can  with  certainty  judge  of  the  product  of  the 
year  by  the  state  of  the  river,  they  proclaimed  a  plentiful  crop  by 
surrounding  Isis  with  a  multitude  of  breasts  ;  on  the  contrary,  when 
the  presage  of  fertility  were  not  favorable,  they  exposed  an  Isis  with 
a  single  breast  ;  thereby  to  warn  the  people,  to  make  amends  for  the 
smallness  of  the  harvest  by  the  culture  of  vegetables,  or  b}!- some  other 
industry. 

All  these  changes  h&d  each  its  peculiar  meaning,  and  Isis  changed 
her  dress  as  often  as  the  earth. 

Next  to  the  symbolical  king,  or  the  emblem  of  the  sun,  the  Egyp- 
tians had  no  figure  that  appeared  more  frequently  in  their  assemblies 
than  his,  the  symbol  of  the  earth,  or  rather  the  sign  of  the  feast  that 
were  successively  characterized  by  the  productions  of  the  earth  in 
each  season. 

In  looking  for  the  origin  of  this  woman,  they  ran  into  the  same 
mistake  which  had  caused  them  to  take  the  governor  of  the  earth,  the 
symbol  of  the  sun,  for  Ammoh  their  common  father.  Isis  was  looked 
upon  as  his  wife  :  she  partook  of  the  titles  of  her  husband  ;  and  being 
in  their  opinion  raised  to  a  real  person  and  a  considerable  power, 
they  invoke  her  with  confidence  :  they  gave  her  the  honorable  titles 
of  the  Lady,  the  Queen,  the  Governess,  the  common  Mother,  the 
Q,ueen  of  heaven  and  earth.* 

What  contributed  most  to  seduce  the  Egyptians,  was  the  frequent 
joining  of  a  crescent  or  a  full  moon  to  the  head-dress  of  Isis.  Thence 
they  took  occasion  to  give  it  out  that  Osiris's  wife,  the  common  mother 
of  the  Egyptians,  had  the  moon  for  her  dwelling  place. 

••  It  was  formerly  a  general  custom  to  make  sacrifices  and  public 
prayers  upon  eminent  places,  and  more  especially  in  groves,  to  shel- 
ter the  people  from  the  heat  of  the  sun.  When  the  Isis  which  pro- 
claimed the  feasts,  and  whose  figures  were  one  of  the  finest  parts  of  the 
ceremonial,  was  once  become  the  object  of  it,  and  had  been  looked 
upon  as  the  dispenser  of  the  goods  of  the  earth,  of  which  she  still  bore 
the  marks  ;  her  several  representations,  which  only  foreboded  abund- 

*  The  Roman  Catholics  seem  to  have  borrowed  from  the  Egyptians  the  style  of 
their  address  to  the  Virgin  Mary,  which  is  as  follows  ;— 

"  Holv  Mary— Holy  Mother  of  God— Mother  most  amiable— Mystical  rose— Tower 
of  David— Tower  of  ivory— Gate  of  Heaven— Morning  Star— Que^n  of  Angela- 
Queen  of  Virgins,— Queen  of  all  Saints,"  eic—Edit. 


THE    ANCIENT    EGYPTIANS.  21 

ance  and  joy,  becoming  most  agreeable  to  the  people,  always  eager 
and  credulous  on  that  head,  the  false  sense  attributed  to  these  figures 
made  them  pass  for  the  suresf  means  of  obtaining  plentiful  harvests. 
These  images  were  worshipped  with  solemnity,  and  placed  in  the 
finest  words.  Crouds  of  people  flocked  to  the  religious  feasts  of  the 
lovely  queen  who  loaded  them  with  blessings.  No , doubt  they  had 
every  thing  from  her.  The  coolness  and  beauty  of  the  place  where 
she  was  worshipped,  had  no  less  an  influence  on  the  assistants  than 
the  attire  of  the  goodness,  and  instead  of  calling  her  the  queen  of 
heaven,  they  often  styled  her  the  queen  of  the  groves.''' 

She  also  became  the  queen  of  herds,  Asteroth,  the  great  fish,  or 
queen  of  fishes,  Adirdagal,  or  by  way  of  excellence  the  queen  Amalcta 
Appherudoth. 

The  Greeks  softened  the  sound  of  these  words,  and  g  ave  them  the 
inflection  and  turn  of  their  own  language.  The  queen  of  herds 
became  Astarte  ;  that  of  fishes  became  Atergatis,  and  the  mother  of  corn 
became  the  Aphrodite  of  the  Cyprians  and  the  Greeks.  The  name 
Appherudoth,  the  mother  of  harvests,  changed  into  that  of  Aphrodite, 
was  no  more  than  an  empty  sound  void  of  all  meaning.  But  it  seeming 
to  the  Greeks  to  be  derived  from  a  word  in  their  tongue,  which  signified 
the  froth  of  the  sea  they  thereupon  built  the  wonderful  story  of  the  god- 
dess engendered  of  the  froth  of  the  sea,  and  suddenly  springing  out  of 
the  bosom  of  the  watery  main,  to  the  great  amazement  both  of  the 
gods  and  men. 

They  represented  the  Amalcta  Aphrodite,  the  queen  of  harvest,  hold- 
ing with  her  left  hand  a  long  goat's  horn,  out  of  which  they  make 
ears  of  corn,  vegetables,  and  fruits  to  spring.  She  had  a  sickle  or 
some  other  attiribute  in  her  right  hand  ;  and  thus  they  united  without 
any  reason  the  mark  of  the  opening  of  the  harvest,  together  with  the 
horn  of  f.he  wild  goat,  which  signified  anciently  the  end  of  all  harvests, 
and  the  beginning  of  winter.  This  is  then  the  plain  original  of  the  horn 
of  abundance,  and  of  the  Amalthean  goat.  That  horn  being  always  full, 
(a  privilege  it  evidently  had)  could  not  but  proceed  from  a  goat  which 
had  done  some  important  service  to  mankind.  They  contrived  that  this 
goat  had  been  nurse  to  Jupiter.  But  the  god  and  the  nurse  are  both 
alike.  The  one  existed  as  little  as  the  other.  This  single  instance  is 
fully  sufficient  to  prove  that  most  of  the  tales  of  the  poets  are  little  stories 
grounded  on  quibbles  of  the  same  kind,  and  invented  only  to  have  some- 
thing to  say  upon  figures  always  presented  at  certain  feasts,  but  no 
longer  understood.    They  made  all  these  figures  so  many  tutelar  deities. 


Hi 


DOGMAS    AND    CUSTOMS    OF 


The  common  people  have  at  all  times  and  in  all  countries,  been 
fond  of  quibbles,  equivocations,  and  puns.  If  the  change  of  figure  has 
often  made  several  gods  of  one  and  the  same  symbol  diversified,  a  sim- 
ple variety  of  names,  nay  the  difference  of  pronunciation,  has  more 
than  once  produced  a  like  multiplicity.  The  Isis  mistaken  for  the 
queen  of  heaven,  or  for  the  moon,  wa&called  Echet,  Hecate,  or  Achate, 
the  only,  the  excellent.  (Inter  ignes  luna  minores.)  Among  somepeo- 
plt3  of  Syria,  the  same  symbol,  by  a  slight  inflection  of  name,  was  called 
Achot,  the  sister.  The  same  whom  they  had  already  made  the  wife  of 
Jehov,  or  of  the  sun,  or  of  Jupiter,  (for  these  are  still  but  one)  became 
also  his  sister. 

— Ego  quae  di  vum  incedo  regina,  Jovisque 
Et  foror  and.conjux 

She  afterwards  became  the  daughter  of  the  same  Jupiter ;  and  then 
the  mother  of  all  the  gods.  All  this  medley  of  states  and  genealogies 
evidently  proceeds  from  the  diversity  of  the  attributes  and  names  given 
to  one  and  the  same  symbol. 

It  is  not  more  difficult  to  guess,  how  the  same  Diana  is  sometimes 
a  terrestrial  deity,  sometimes  the  moon,  and  sometimes  the  queen  of  hell. 
By  her  first  institution  she  had  a  relation  to  the  earth,  and  marked  out 
her  productions.  The  false  interpretation  that  was  given  to  the  cres- 
cent and  the  full  moon  which  she  bore  over  her  head  to  proclaim  the 
feasts,  caused  her  to  be  taken  for  the  moon  ;  and  at  last  the  time  during 
which  she  remains  invisible,  that  is,  between  the  last  phasis  and  the 
return  of  the  new,  put  it  beyond  all  doubt  that  she  was  gone  to  take  a  turn 
in  the  abode  of  Ades,  or  the  invisible,  that  is,  to  the  empire  of  the  dead. 

But  what  contributed  most  to  the  strange  notions  people  framed  to 
themselves  of  this  triceps  Hecate,  which  was  at  the  same  time  the  earth, 
the  moon,  and  the  wife  of  Pluto,  is  this.  So  soon  as  the  first  phasis  of 
the  new  moon  was  perceived  in  the  evening,  ministers  for  that  purpose 
went  and  proclaimed  it  in  all  the  cross-ways  and  public  places,  and  the 
feast  of  the  neomenia  was  celebrated  either  that  very  evening  or  the 
next  day,  according  to  the  institution  of  places.  When  the  sacrifice 
was  to  be  made  at  night,  they  put  an  owl  near  the  figure  that  proclaimed 
it.  The  Isis  then  was  called  Lilith,  that  is  the  owl ;  and  this  visi. 
bly  is  the  origin  of  that  nocturnal  lilith  of  whom  so  many  tales  have 
been  told.  A  cock  was  put  in  the  room  hereof,  when  the  sacrifice  was 
to  be  made  in  the  morning.  Nothing  could  possibly  be  more  simple 
or  more  convenient  than  this  practice.  But  when  the  deified  Isis  had 
once  been  looked  upon  as  a  woman,  or  a  queen  dwelling  in  the  moon. 


THE    ANCIENT    EGYPTIANS.  2S 

and  there  governing  the  heaven  in  conjunction  with  Osiris  or  Adonis, 
the  proclamation  of  the  return  of  the  new  moon,  which  was  a  thing 
extremely  plain  before,  assumed  a  mysterious  and  stately  air.  Hecate 
was  become  invisible  for  many  days ;  her  return  was  expected  with 
ceremony.  The  goddess  at  last  left  the  empire  of  the  dead,  to  come 
again  into  the  heavens.  Imagination  had  a  vast  field  to  expatiate  here* 
and  Hecate  never  failing  to  visit  successively  those  two  districts,  it 
could  not  be  doubted  but  she  ruled  both  in  heaven  and  in  the  invisible 
abodes.  On  the  other  hand,  they  could  not  but  be.  sensible  of  the  pal- 
pable relation  she  had  to  the  earth  and  its  productions,  whereof  she 
always  bore  the  several  marks  either  on  her  head  or  in  her  hands. 
She  then  became  the  threefold  Diana  ( triceps  Hecate  )  which  is  at  one 
and  same  time,  the  earth  ;  the  moon  or  the  lady  of  heaven ;  and  the 
queen  of  hell. 

Tergaminainque  Hecaten,  tria  virginis  or  a  Dianat 
The  ancient  proclamation  of  the  new  phasis,  which  was  made  with 
a  loud  voice,  to  proclaim  the  beginning  of  the  neomonia,  insensibly 
degenerated  into  loud  shrieks,  which  they  gave  out  of  mere  supersti- 
tion and  custom  at  the  entrance  of  cross  streets.  They  saluted  the  god- 
dess of  the,  dead,  at  her  coming  out  of  the  horrid  mansions.  The  music 
and  the  notions  agreed  with  and  suited  each  other.  But  the  ancient 
proclamation  of  the  neomenia,  was  the  origin  of  those  devout  and  meri- 
torious roarings, 

Nocturnis  Hecate  triviis  ululata  per  urbes. 
All  the  heathen  antiquity,  after  it  had  confounded  the  symbol  of  the 
new  moons  and  of  the  feasts  relating  to  the  several  seasons  of  the  year, 
with  the  star  that  regulates  society  by  its  phases,  ascribed  to  the  moon 
an  universul  power  over  all  the  productions  of  the  earth,  and  generally 
over  all  the  operations  of  men.  They  likewise  fancied,  that  she  was 
perfectly  well  acquainted  with  future  things,  and  that  she  never  appeared 
without  foreboding  by  certain  marks  Avhat  was  to  befal  husbandmen,  fam- 
ilies, and  whole  kingdoms.  People  have  not  as  yet  fully  shaken  offthe 
persuasion  they  anciently  had  of  the  influences  and  presages  of  the  moon. 


A  like  respect  was  paid  to  the  Neomenia,  or  New  Moon  by  the  Hebrews.  Dr.  Adam 
Clarke,  in  his  history  of  the  ancient  Israelites,  gives  the  following  statements  in  sub- 
stance of  this  matter. 

*'As  the  Moon  regulates  the  months,  so  does  the  Sun  the  year.  The  division 
which  we  make  of  the  year  into  twelve  months,  has  no  relation  to  the  motion  of  the 
moon.     But  it  was  not  so  with  the  Hebrews  :  their  months  are  lunar,  and  their  name 


24*  DOGMAS    AND    CUSTOMS    OF 

sufficiently  shows  it.  They  call  them  Jarchin,  which  comes  from  Jarac,  which  sig- 
nifies the  moon. 

The  moment  in  which  the  conjunction  between  the  sun  and  moon  is  made,  can 
only  be  known  by  astromical  calculation,  because  she  does  not  then  appear  ;  and  as 
the  Hebrews  were  little  skilled  in  this  science,  they  began  their  months  at  ihe  first  pha- 
sis,  or  first  appearance  of  the  moon,  which  required  no  learning  to  discover.  This 
was  an  affair  in  which  the  great  Sanhedrim  were  concerned,  and  the  different  phases 
of  the  Moon  were  painted  upon  the  hall  in  which  they  assembled.  It  belonged  to 
them  to  choose  men  of  the  strictest  proditi/,  whom  they  sent  to  the  tops  of  the  neigh- 
boring mountains,  and  who,  no  sooner  perceived  the  new  Moon,  but  they  came  with 
all  speed,  even  on  the  Sabbath  day  itself,  to  acquaint  the  Sanhedrim  with  it.  It  was 
the  business  of  that  council  to  ascertain  whether  the  moon  had  appeared,  and  to  declare 
it :  which  was  done  by  pronouncing  these  words,  the  feast  of  the  New  Moon,  the  feast 
qf  the  New  3Ioon  ;  and  all  the  people  were  informed  of  it  by  the  sound  of  trumpets. 
To  which  ceremony  David  alludes,  when  he  says,  blow  up  the  Trumpet  in  the  New 
Moon,  in  the  time  appointed,  on  our  solemn  feast-day. — Psalms.  81.  v.  3." 

The  masonic  pillar  Jachin,  which  represents  Isis,  the  figure  of  whom,  was- exhib- 
ited at  each  neomenia,  is  undoubtedly  derived  from  Jarchin,  the  name  given  by  the 
Hebrews  to  their  months. 

Bailey  relates  some  curious  customs  which  formerly'prevailed  m  regard  to  the  moon. 

*'  The  common  people,  he  says,  in  some  counties  of  England,  are  accustomed  at 
the  prime  of  the  Moon,  to  say ;  It  is  a  fine  Moan,  God  bless  her ;  which  some  imagine 
to  proceed  from  a  blind  zeal,retained  from  the  ancient  Irish,  who  worshipped  the  Moon>, 
or  from  a  custom  in  Scotland,  particularly  in  the  Highland,  where  the  women  make  a 
courtesy  to  the  New  Moon ;  and  some  English  women  do  still  retain  a  touch  of  thisgen- 
tilism,  who  sittmg  upon  a  gate  or  stile  tlie  first  night  of  a  moon,  say, 

"  All  hail  to  the  Moon,  all  hail  to  thee ; 
I  prithee,  good  Moon,  declare  to  me, 
This  night  who  my  husband  shall  be. " 

In  New  England,  wl;ere  most  of  the  ancient  usages  of  the  Tnother  country  have 
been  perpetuated,  it  is  considered  an  ill  omen  to  observe  the  first  appearance  of  the 
Moon  over  the  left  shoulder  ;  but  when  seen  over  the  right,  particularly  if  the  beholder 
has  money  in  his  pocket,  it  is  deemed  a  presage  of  good  luck.  It  is  not  unfrequent  upon 
such  occasions  to  prefer  a  petition  for  what  is  most  desired,  and  great  confidence  is 
entertained  in  its  being  granted.  ^ 

Thus  it  appears  thai  the  Moon  has  been  the  innocent  cause  of  much  superstition 
from  the  earliest  time  to  the  present  day,  and  that  the  term  "  moon  struck,"  possesses 
a  legitimate  origin. 

Harpocrates. 

^  The  Egyptians  did  not  fail  to  put  in  places  consecrated  to  the  pub- 
lic exercises  of  religion,  the  symbol  of  the  prosperities  of  their  tillage. 
They  placed  a  figure,  sinking  under  the  burden  of  the  goods  he  had 
reaped,  in  the  assembly  of  all  the  feasts  that  were  solemnized  after  the 
harvests  of  corn,  wine,  fruits,  and  vegetables.  He  carried  on  his  head 
the  natural  marks  of  a  plentiful  harvest,  viz.  three  pitchers  of  either 
wine  or   beer,  surmounted   with  three  loaves,  and  accompanied  with 


THE    ANCIENT    EGYPTIANS.  25 

leaves,  vegetables  and  several  fruits.  The  bread,  wine,  etc.,  wherewith 
they  deck  his  head,  lay  immediately  on  the  two  great  horns  of  a  wild 
goat.  They  could  not  possibly  mark  out  in  a  more  simple  and  less 
mysterious  manner,  the  perfect  plenty  which  the  husbandman  enjoys 
in  the  beginning  of  winter,  when  the  sun  passes  under  the  sign  Capri- 
corn. 

He  is  most  commonly  seen  with  a  single  pitcher  instead  of  three, 
and  with  one  goat's  horn  instead  of  two  ;*  or  with  the  circle  accom- 
panied with  large  banana  leaves,  or  with  some  other  symbol.  The 
Greek  sculptors,  who  did  not  much  like  these  enormous  head  dresses 
disposed  the  whole  with  more  comeliness  and  decorum.  They  placed 
the  goat's  horn  in  one  of  the  hands  of  the  figure,  and  made  some 
fruits  come  out  of  it. 

Symbolical  ceremonies.     Memorials  of  past  events. 

The  symbolical  writing  so  commonly  and  usefully  imployed  to 
teach  in  a  compendious  and  popular  manner  the  most  important  truths 
for  the  preserving  of  good  manners,  and  promoting  ihe  good  of  man- 
kind, served  also  from  the  beginning  to  preserve  the  memory  of  his- 
tories, and  publicly  to  expose  the  object  or  the  motives  of  the  feasts 
to  which  some  great  event  had  given  occasion. 

The  ancients  always  opened  their  festivals  and  public  prayers 
with  woes  and  lamentations  for  what  they  had  lost ;  though  they  were 
used  to  conclude  the  same  by  a  general  repast,  where  singing,  the 
sound  of  instruments,  and  joy  succeeded  their  mourning.  Whence 
it  comes,  that  the  cries  usual  in  the  most  ancient  feasts,  even  those 
which  in  process  of  time  became  expressions  of  joy,  and  set  forms  of 
acclamations,  being  traced  up  to  the  primitive  origin,  signify  nothing 
but  tears  and  expressions  of  grief  addressed  to  Almighty  God.  Such 
were  the  cries,  io  Bacche,  hevoe  Bacche,  io  triumphe,  io  paean.  This 
word  io,  jeov,  jevoe,  hevoe,  is  the  name  of  God,  and  signifies  the 
author  of  life.he  thai  is.  Bacche  comes  from  beche  tears.  Baccoth 
signifies  lamentations.  The  women  who  lament  the  death  of  Adonis 
in  Ezekiel  are  called  Bacchants,  meboccoth,  women  mourners.  Tri- 
umphe comes  from,  teroweh,  which  the  western  nations  pronounced 
triumphe  ;  there  being  no  letter  whose  pronunciation  was  more  diffi- 
cult and  more  varied  than  the  oin.  That  word  triumphe  signified 
groans  and  sobs.  It  afterwards  signified  the  public  prayer,  and  finally 

*  Cross's  masonic  chart  represents  two  cornucopiBB  or  goat's  horns,  and  one  pitcher; 
three,  however,  of  the  latter,  as  before  observed,  are  used  m  the  ceremonies.— J5^rft^ 

4 


26  DOGMAS    AND    CUSTOMS    OF 

the  singing  of  the  assemblies,  as  mRj  be  seen  Ps.  89.*  All  these  words 
joined  to  the  name  of  God,  were  short  expressions  by  which  the  peo- 
ple excited  each  other  to  have  recourse  to  God  in  their  distress,  and 
to  direct  their  prayers  and  cries  to  him.  The  whole  of  these,  was 
like  the  Latin  and  French  expressions,  Deo  gratias,  Dieu  mercy, 
adieu. 

The  object  and  motives  of  this  mournful  practice  are  more  easy 
to  be  discovered  among  the  Egj^ptians  than  among  the  other  nations  ; 
not  only  because  the  Egyptians  having  been  less  mingled  with  other 
people,  have  made  fewer  alterations  in  their  ancient  customs  ;  but 
also  because  their  practices  being  strictly  connected  with  public  and 
certain  symbols .  engraved  in  stone,  or  carried  in  ceremony  at  the 
feasts,  they  were  better  fixed  or  less  disfigured  in  Egypt  than  in  other 
parts  of  the  world.  There  they  lamented  with  Isis  the  death  of  the 
governor  which  had  been  taken  from  them,  and  killed  by  a  dragon 
rising  from  under  the  ground,  and  by  a  water  monster.  They  then 
rejoiced  for  the  resurrection  of  Osiris  ;  but  he  was  no  longer  the  same 
and  had  lost  his  strength. 

The  Egyptians,  and  most  of  the  eastern  nations,  had  an  allegory 
or  picture,  wh  ich  became  famous,  and  which  is  every  where  met  with. 
It  represented  the  water  monster  slain,  and  Osiris  restored  to  life  ;  but 
there  sprang  out  of  the  earth  hideous  figures,  who  endeavored  to 
dethrone  him.  They  were  "monstrous  giants,  one  of  which  had 
many  arms  ;  another  pulled  up  the  largest  oaks  ;  and  a  third  had  in 
his  hands  the  fourth  part  of  a  mountain,  which  he  flung  against  hea- 
ven. They  were  all  distinguished  by  some  singular  attempt,  and  by 
frightful  names,  the  most  known  of  which  were  Briareus,  Othus, 
Ephialtes,  Enceladus,  Mimas,  Porphyrion,  and  Rouach  or  Roechus. 
Osiris  got  the  better  of  them  ;  and  Horus,  after  he  had  been  very 
much  abused  by  RoBchus,  happily  got  rid  of  his  pursuits,  by  appear- 
ing before  him  with  the  jaws  and  claws  of  a  lion. 

I  might  be  thought  here  to  offer  a  mere  fable  ;  But  to  show  that 
this  picture  is  historical,  and  that  all  the  personages  which  compose 
it  are  so  many  symbols,  or  significant  characters,  representing  the 
hardships  of  the  first  men,  and  in  particular  the  unhappy  state  of  hus- 
bandry in  Egypt,  it  will  be  sufficient  here  to  translate  the  peculiar 

♦  Blessed  are  the  people  that  know  the  joyful  sound,  they  shall  walk,  O  Lord,  in 
the  light  of  thy  countenance.  For  thou  art  the  glory  of  their  strength ;  and  in  thy 
favor  our  horn  shall  be  exalted.  For  the  Lprd  is  our  defence  ;  and  the  holy  one  of 
Israel  is  our  king.  How  long,  Lord  7  wilt  thou  hide  thyself  forever?" 


THE     ANCIENT    EGYPTIANS.  27 

names  given  to  each  of  these  giants.  Briareus  signifies  the  loss  of 
serenity]  Othus,  the  diversity  of  seasons:  Ephialtes,  great  gatherings 
of  clouds,  Enceladus,  the  havocks  of  great  overflowing  waters 
spread  :  Porphyrion,  the  earthquakes  or  the  fracture  of  the  land, 
Mimas,  the  great  rains  ;  and  Roechus,  the  wind* 

As  to  the  figure  of  Horus  who  assumes  the  head  and  claws  of  a 
lion,  to  rid  himself  of  the  wind  that  ruined  all  his  hopes  ;  it  is  a  sym- 
bol peculiar  to  the  husbandry  of  the  Egyptians. 

Thus  the  necessity  of  personifying  the  objects  they  wanted  to  paint 
very  soon  introduced  the  use  of  allegorical  pictures,  and  of  fabulous 
recitals.  They  at  that  time  could  not  write  otherwise  than  by  delinea- 
ting the  figures  of  the  objects  intended.  But  they  thought  themselves 
masters  of  ordering  the  whole,  in  the  manner  they  judged  the  fittest 
t©  make  an  agreeable  impression,  and  to  be  well  understood.  The 
difficulty  of  conveying  the  ideas  of  intellectual  things  into  the  mind  by 
the  eye,  first  made  them  have  recourse  to  symbolical  figures  :  the  use 
of  these  figures  afterwards  authorized  the  taste  of  fictions.  But  what 
was  obscure  in  them  was  cleared  by  the  -simplicity  and  propriety  of  the 
names  given  each  peice,  I  could  produce  new  instances  of  this  in 
the  fables  of  Andromeda  and  Bellerophon,  which  are  pure  allegories, 
the  interpretation  of  which  must  be  deduced  from  the  signification  and 
meaning  of  the  names  of  all  these  personages.  But  this  would  take 
us  off  too  much  from  that  part  of  the  ancient  writing  and  of  the  pub- 
lic ceremonies  that  related  to  the  representation  of  past  disasters,  and 
to  the  regulations  of  mankind. 


Altho,  Mr.  Pluche  has  actually  shown  the  cause  of  the  lamentations  and  after 
rejoicings  to  have  been  occasioned  by  the  loss  and  subsequent  restoration  of  Osiris  the 
sun,  still  he  attributes  the  allegory  to  the  misfortunes  that  had  happened  to  mankind 
in  consequence  of  a  general  flood.    His  remarks  upon  this  head  are  omitted. 


The  ancients  not  only  expressed  certain  truths  by  figures  delineated 
on  stone  ;  they  also  joined  to  these  figures  dramatic  ceremonies,  where- 
in the  objects  and  the  names  of  the  actors  were  significant,  and  served 
to  recall  the  memory  of  things  past. 

The  feast  of  the  ancient  state  of  mankind,  assumed  a  more  shining 
form  in  Egypt  and  Syria,  by  means  of  the  symbolical  figures,  which 
had  been  multiplied  there  much  more,  than  any  where  else.  This  feast 
having  become  common  to  all  nations,  on  this  account  deserves  a  more 

♦The  author  gives  in  notes,  the  originals  of  the  above  names,  which  are  omitted. 


28  DOGMAS    AND    CUSTOMS    OF 

ample  illustration,  than  what  has  already  been  said  about  it.  We  can- 
not explain  the  symbols  of  it,  without  casting  a  useful  light  upon  an 
infinite  number  of  monuments  remaining  in  our  hands,  and  which  have 
hitherto  been  looked  upon  as  unintelligible. 

They  carried  at  this  feast  a  basket  or  small  chest,  that  contained 
the  monuments  of  the  progresses  of  husbandry.  The  chest  was 
neither  mysterious  nor  significant  in  itself  It  only  served  to  receive 
the  memorative  symbols  of  things  past. 

First,  they  found  therein  the  mark  of  the  weakening  of  Osiris,  and 
of  the  loss  of  fecundity.  (In  cisia  or  capsula  repofitum  erat  Dionysii 
(Ofiridis)   pudendum.     S.   Clem.  Alex,  cohortat,  adgentes.  p.  6.  edit. 

Oxon.      From  the  Phenician  word, ouervah  or  orvia,  pudendum, 

they  made  Orgia,  a  name  given  the  ancient  rural  feasts.  They  were 
called  in  Greece  Phallica,  which  has  the  same  meaning.  The  indis- 
cretion of  that  symbol  gave  birth  to  all  sorts  of  extravagances  and  licen- 
tiousness. 

Then  came  sesameseeds,  heads  of  poppies,  pomegranates,  bay-ber- 
ries, branches  of  fig-tree,  dry  stalks,  cakes  of  several  kinds  of  corn, 
salt,  carded  wool,  cakes  of  honey  and  of  cheese,  and  finally  a  child 
a  serpent  and  a  winnowing  van.  See  this  enumeration  in  St.  Clem. 
Alexand.  and  in  Potter's  Antiquity  of  Greece,  vol.  1.  Grecian  festi- 
vals. The  whole  was  accompanied  with  a  flute,  or  some  other  musi- 
cal instrument. 

The  drum  or  flute,  which  was  inseparable  from  the  celebration  of 
the  feasts,  was  the  symbol  of  gratitude,  which  on  certain  days  invited 
'men  to  meet  together,  to  praise  God  in  concert.  The  small  chest,  the 
van,  in  which  they  afterwards  found  so  many  mysteries,  (Mystica  van- 
nus.  Virg.  Georgic.  See  VAntiq.  expliq.  and  the  agate,  in  the  treasury 
of  St.  Denys.)  and  the  whole  representation  here  enumerated,  passed 
from  the  Egyptians  to  the  Phenicians,  and  by  their  means  spread  far 
and  wide.  Nothing  is  more  commonly  found  in  the  monuments  of  the 
heathen  feasts,  than  a  small  chest,  a  van,  a  serpent,  a  human  head,  and 
a  flute  or  a  drum. 

When  the  feast  representing  the  ancient  state  of  mankind  and  the 
progresses  of  industry  was  celebrated,  both  the  figure  of  the  earth  and 
that  of  work  obtained  several  names  in  different  countries.  But  we 
find  the  same  purpose  and  the  same  relations  in  all  these  names.  The 
Isis  representing  the  earth,  was  called  Ceres,  Themis,  Nemefis,  Semele 
Mnemosyne,  and  Adrastia. 

We  shall   bestow   an   entire   article  upon  the   explanation  of  the 


THE    ANCIENT    EGYPTIAN!.  29 

symbol  of  Ceres.  The  Isis  surnamed  Nemesis  simply  signified  the 
earth  preserved  from  the  waters.  Semele  signified  the  representation 
of  the  ancient  condition  of  men  ;  and  Mnemosyne  is  no  more  than  a 
bare  translation  of  the  same  word  into  Greek.  Torches  were  always 
carried  next  to  Ceres,  or  the  symbol  of  the  mourning  earth,  and  this 
caused  Isis  thus  accompanied  to  be  called  Themis,  Themisto,  and 
Adrastia,  which  three  names  signify  all  the  excellency  of  fire. 

A  multitude  of  ancient  monuments  testify  to  us  the  use  of  the  lit- 
tle portable  chest,  of  the  van,  the  child  a^id  the  serpent.  They  added 
to  these  figures  the  sorry  grains  on  which  they  in  the  beginning  had 
been  obliged  to  feed,  and  the  marks  of  the  crosses  they  had  been 
necessitated  to  overcome.*  (See  the  antiquities  of  Greece  collected  by 
Dr.  Potter,  Vol.  i.  And  Clem.  Alexander.  Cohort,  ad  Gent.) 

The  persons  who  in  the  public  ceremony  carried  the  chest  wherein 
all  these  memorials  were  contained,  likewise  assumed  to  themselves 
significant  names,  and  made  a  part  of  the  representation.  They 
became  actors,  and  every  thing  concurred  with  the  symbolical  pieces, 
to  convey  certain  truths  into  the  minds  of  the  spectators. 

The  representative  child  was  called  simply  the  child,  liber,  the 
beloved  son  ;  sometimes  the  child  author  of  life  and  subsistence,  liher 
pater  ;  sometimes  the  child  of  the  representation,  ben,  Semeleh  ;  some- 
times Horus,  Erichthonius,  Harpocrates,  Bacchus,  Apollo,  Icarus. 
He  bore  many  other  names,  whereof  we  shall  give  an  explication, 
in   the  particular  enumeration  of  the  feasts  of  the  several  nations.! 

It  is  known  from  the  testimony  of  Diodorus  Siculus,  and  from  the 
conformity  of  the  Athenian  laws  with  the  Egyptians,  that  the  first 
inhabitants  of  Attica  were  an  Egyptian  colony.    We  have  even  several 

♦Every  royal  arch  chapter  of  masons  iis  supplied  with  a  similar  chest ;  to  which 
great  consequence  is  affectedly  attached.  It  contains,  besides  other  testimonials  of 
times  past,  something  resembhng,  and  which  is  declared  to  be,  manna,  the  food  upon 
which  the  Israelites  are  said  to  have  subsisted  during  their  wanderings  in  the  wilderness. 

Among  the  emblems  of  masonry  are  likewise  the  skeleton  or  skull  of  the  human 
head,  as  well  as  the  figure  of  a  serpent.  But  the  original  intention  of  these  symbola 
are  probably  now  unknown  to  the  fraternity. 

"  The  Jews  also  had,  at  the  east  end  of  every  school  or  synagogue,  a  chest  called 
Aaron,  or  ark,  in  which  was  locked  up  the  pentateuch  in  manuscript,  written  on  vellum 
in  square  characters,  which  by  express  command,  was  to  be  delivered  to  such  only  as 
were  found  to  be  wise  among  them." — (Colcott  Disq.  on  Masonry,  p.  72.) 

It  is  probable  that  this  chest  also  contained  memorials  of  the  wretched  state  of  the 
Israelites  while  in  the  wilderness.  The  letters,  above  mentioned,  were  probably  the 
same  as  the  royal  arch  ineffable  characters,  which  consist  of  right  angles  in  various 
atitudes,  with  the  addition  of  a  dot.— Edit. 

tThe  author  makes  this  child  the  symbol  of  work  ;  and  as  the  sun  bore  the  name 
of  Apollo,  or  Horus  Apollo,  when  in  the  northern  hemisphere  which  is  the  time  for 
carrying  on  the  labors  of  husbandry  in  this  region,  there  may  be  a  propriety  in  the 
application.— £7dt^. 


30  DOGMAS    AND    CUSTOMS    OF 

proofs,that  it  originally  came  from  the  city  of  Sais,  so  famous  for  its  olive- 
trees.  Among  the  ceremonies  which  these  foreigners  brought  from 
Egypt  into  Greece,  they  remark  the  little  chest,  which  accordingto  the 
custom  of  their  original  country,  contained  the  symbolical  figures  of 
agriculture.  Three  young  Athenian  women  carried  in  their  feasts  a 
basket,  wherein  lay  a  child  and  a  serpent. 

Infantemque  vident  exporreet^imque  draconem* 

The  three  maids  that  carried  this  child  had  names  relating  to  hus- 
bandry, the  symbols  of  which  they  bore  in  their  hands.  They  were 
called  Herse,  Pandrosos,  and  Aglauros,  The  signification  of  these 
names  unveils  the  whble  obscurity  of  the  enigma.  It  is  enough  for 
us  thereby  to  understand,  that  it  is  to  the  alternative  of  the  rain,  the 
dew,  and  the  fair  weather,  that  husbandry  is  indebfed  for  the  life  it 
affords  us.  Let  the  imagination  of  poets  wander  upon  the  rest,  and, 
according  to  their  custom,  look  into  a  symbol  to  them  become  unintel- 
ligible, for  the  matter  of  an  insipid  metamorphosis. 

In  order  to  render  these  representations  more  complete,  they  did 
not  in  Egypt,  forget  any  more  than  in  other  places,  the  necessity,  the 
first  men  had  been  under,  of  defending  their  houses  and  the  fruits  of 
the  earth,  from  wild  beasts.  They  preserved  the  memory  of  this 
particular  circumstance  by  a  kind  of  hunting  which  they  renewed 
every  three  years,  throughout  the  East.  The  same  feast  was  not  cele- 
brated every  year,  because  wild  beasts  did  not  multiply  from  one  year 
to  another  so  as  to  alarm  the  neighborhood.  This  hunting  being 
only  a  representation  and  not  much  in  earnest,  it  made  the  sanctity 
of  feasts  degenerate  into  tumultuous  ramblings,  which  were  succeded 
by  the  greatest  disorders. 

It  is  true,  they  began  by  a  sacrifice,  and  the  invocation  of  the  true 
God  ;  as  may  be  easily  proved  from  their  warlike  cries,  that  signified, 
The  Lord  is  the  mighty;  the  Lord  is  my  strength  ;  Jo  Saboi,j  Deus 
mihi  exercitus.  The  Lord  is  an  host  to  me  ;  the  Lord  is  my  guide  ; 
Jevov  nissi  ;  Jo  nissi,  Dio  nissi ;  Deus  vexillum  mihi,  Deus  mihi,  dux  esto. 
Exod.  xvii:  15.  And  Moses  built  an  altar,  and  called  the  name  of  it  Jeho- 
vah-nissi.  It  is  not  time  yet  to  convert  the  Dionissi,  which  was  only 
a  prayer,  into  a  man's  name,  and  of  it  to.  make  the  Dionysius  of  the 

*  Ovid.  Metam.  qf  Erichthonitts. 

iSaboi,  with,perhap8,  some  variations  in  the  pronunciation,  is  a  common  expression 
with  country  people,  to  set  clogs  npon  cattle.— ^di7. 


THE    ANCIENT    EGYPTIANS.  §1 

Greeks.  All  words  which  we  find  again  in  the  mouth  of  the  Hebrews, 
because  their  tongue  and  religion  were  originally  the  same  with  that  of 
the  other  nations.  The  latter  have  altered  their  notions,  while  the 
form  of  'prayers  still  remained  the  same. 

Animals  become  Symbolical. 

From  the  knowledge  we  now  have  of  the  genius  and  taste  of  the 
eastern  nations,  and  chiefly  of  the  Eg^^ptians,  for  symbolical  figures 
and  significant  ceremonies,  we  are  authorized  to  think,  that  the  singu- 
lar practices  observed  among  them  were  so  many  emblems  of  certain 
astronomical,  moral  and  other  truths.  We  no  longer  run  any  risk  in 
saying,  that  the  ram  which  they  reverenced  in  Thebais  and  Libya,  the 
bulls  they  respected  at  Memphis  and  Heliopolis,  the  kids  honored  at 
Mendes,  the  lion,  the  fishes  and  other  animals  which  they  worshiped  in 
several  provinces,  were  very  plain  symbols  in  their  first  origin.  They 
were  no  more  than  the  ancient  signs  of  the  Zodiac,  and  the  diflferent 
marks  of  the  situations  of  the  sun.  They  distingnished  the  neomenia 
of  one  month  or  of  another,  by  annexing  the  figure  of  the  celestial 
animal  into  which  the  sun  then  entered,  to  the  Isis  which  proclaimed 
that  feast ;  and  instead  of  a  bare  picture,  they  introduced  into  the  feast  the 
animal  itself,  the  living  animal  relating  thereto.  The  dog  being  the 
symbol  of  the  dog-star,  which  formerly  opened  the  year  ;  they  put  a 
living  dog  at  the  head  of  the  whole  ceremonial  of  the  first  neomenia. 
It  is  Diodorus,  who  recounts  this  fact,  as  having  been  an  eye-witness  of 
it.  They  therefore  took  the  habit  of  calling  these  neomenise  the  feast 
of  the  ram,  the  feast  of  the  bull,  of  the  dog,  and  of  the  lion. 

Funeral  symbols  and  Ceremonies. 

There  was  near  the  Egyptian  towns  a  certain  ground  appointed  for 
the  common  burying-place.  Diodorus  Siculus,  (Biblieth.  I.  1.)  informs 
us  how  these  tombs  were  regulated,  and  in  an  exact  description  of  the 
burying-place  at  Memphis,  the  largest  and  most  frequented  of  all, 
relates  all  that  was  practised  there.  According  to  his  recital,  the  com- 
mon burying  place,  was  on  the  other  side  of  the  lake  called  Acherusia, 

from acharie,  after,  and  from ish,  man,  comes, achariis 

ultima  hominis  the  last  condition  of  man,  or  rather  what  follows  the 

death  of  man.     They   also  say  acheron,  postremum,   conditio^ 

ultama.  The  dead  person  was  brought  to  the  shore  of  that  lake, 
and  to  the  foot  of  a  tribunal  consisting  of  several  judges,  who  inquired 


<32  DOGMAS    AND    CUSTOMS    OF 

into  his  life  and  conversation.  When  he  had  not  faithfully  observed 
the  laws,  the  body  was  left  unburied,  and  very  likely  was  thrown 
into  a   sort  of  lay-stall   or   ditch  called  Tartarus.     This  word  may 

come  from  the  Chaldaic, tarah,  prcemonitio,  doubling  the  word. 

Diodorus  informs  us,  that  there  was  near  a  town,  at  a  small  distance 
from  Memphis  a  leaking  vessel,  into  which  they  incessantly  poured 
Nile  water  ;  which  could  signify  nothing  but  endless  tortures  and 
remorses.  And  this  single  circumstance  gives  room  to  think,  that  the 
place  where  the  unburied  bodies  were  thrown,  was  set  round  with 
frightful  representations. 

When  no  accuser  appeared,  or  he  who  deposed  against  the  deceased 
was  convicted  of  falsehood,  then  they  ceased  to  lament  the  dead  person, 
and  his  encomium  was  made.  (Diod.)  They,  for  instance,  commended 
his  excellent  education,  his  respect  for  religion,  his  equity,  moderation, 
chastity  and  other  virtues.  His  birth,  which  was  supposed  to  be  the 
same  with  all  men,  was  never  allowed  as  any  merit  in  him.  All  the 
assistants  applauded  these  praises,  and  congratulated  the  deceased,  on 
account  of  his  being  ready  to  injoy  an  eternal  repose  with  the  virtuous. 

There  was  on  the  shore  of  the  lake  a  severe  and  incorruptible  water. 
man,  who  by  order  of  the  judges,  and  never  upon  any  other  terms, 
received  the  deceased  into  his  boat.  The  very  kings  of  Egypt  were 
treated  with  the  same  rigor,  and  were  not  admitted  into  the  bark,  with- 
out the  leave  of  the  judges,  who  sometimes  deprived  even  them  of 
burial.  The  water-man  carried  the  body  on  the  other  side  of  the  lake, 
into  a  plain  embellished  with  meadows,  brooks,  groves,  and  all  the 
rural  ornaments.  This  place  was  called  Elizout,  or  the  Elizian 
fields,  that  is,  full  satisfaction,  an  habitation  of  repose  or  of  joy. 
There  was  at  the  entrance  of  that  abode  the  figure  of  a  dog  with  three 
pair  of  jaws,  which  they  called  Cerberus.  The  whole  ceremony 
ended  by  thrice  sprinkling  sand  over  the  opening  of  the  vault  wherein 
they  had  put  the  corpse,*  and  by  bidding  him  thricef  adieu. 

All  these  words  and  practices  almost  every  where  copied,  were  so 
many  instructions  addressed  to  the  people.  They  gave  them  to  under- 
stand by  all  these  ceremonies,  as  by  so  many  speeches  or  very  signifi- 
cant symbols,  that  death  was  followed  by  an  account  which  we  were 
to  give  of  our  life  before  an  inflexible  tribunal  :  but  that  what  was 
indeed  dreadful  to  the  wicked,  was  only  a  passage  into  a  happier 

♦The  custom  of  throwing  thrice  sand  upon  the  corpse  is  now  become  universal. 
Injecto  terpulvere.    Horat.  carm.  1.  i.  od.  28. 
i Magna  manes  ter  toce  vocavit.  iEneid.  6. 


THE    ANCIENT    EGYPTIANS.  83 

State  for  the  good.  Wherefore  death  was  called  the  deliverance. 
(Pelitah,  or  TdLther, pelouta,  alleviation,  deliverance.  Wherefore  Horace 
looks  upon  that  passage  as  the  end  of  evils. 

Levare  functuvi  jiauperem  laboribus.  Carm.  1.  2.  od,  18.)  It  is 
likewise  called  in  French  le  trepas,  that  is,  the  passage  to  another 
Jife.     The  boat  of  transportation  was  called  tranquility,  {beri,  tranquil- 

itas,  serenitas,     Whence  comes, baris,  Charon's  bark.  Diod.  Sic.) 

because  it  carried  over,  none  but  the  just  ;  and  on  the  contrary 
the  waterman,  who  inflexibly  refused  those  whom  the  judges  had  not 
acquitted,  was  called  Wrath,  (Charon.  Exod.  15  ;  7.)  or  the  vengeance. 

As  to  the  earth  thrown  upon  the  corpse,  and  the  tender  adieus  of 
the  relations,  they  were  no  more  than  natural  duty  and  a  simple 
expression  of  their  regrets.  But  they  were  not  contented  with  paying 
them  by  the  way  this  honor :  They  also  put  at  the  entrance,  of  the 
cemetery  and  over  the  door  of  the  deceased's  tomb  the  symbol  of  the  value 
and  tender  affection  they  had  for  their  departed  relation.  The  dog, 
being  of  all  animals  the  most  addicted  to  man,  is  the  natural  emblem  of 
friendship  and  attachment.  They  gave  the  figure  of  the  dog  three 
heads  or  throats,  to  express  the  three  cries  they  had  made  over  their 
friend's  grave,  according  to  the  custom  which  granted  that  honor  to 
none  but  good  men.  Therefore  this  figure,  thus  placed  near  the  tomb 
and  over  the  head  of  the  new-buried  person,  signified  his  having  been 
honored  with  the  lamentations  of  his  family,  and  with  the  cries  which 
friends  never  failed  to  come  and  utter  over  the  grave  of  him  whom  they 
had  valued  and  cherished  for  his  good  qualities.  The  meaning  of  this 
symbol  is  no  longer  a  riddle,  after  its  name  has  been  translated.  They 
called  it  Cerberus,  that  is  in  plain  terms,  the  cries  of  the  grave.* 

It  is  neither  easy  nor  reasonable  to  pretend  to  explain  all  the  symbols 
and  ceremonies  of  antiquity,  before  we  are  convinced  that  most  of  the 
singular  figures  used  on  the  most  solemn  occasions,  were  in  their  first 
original  no  more  than  significant  symbols  and  instructive  ceremonies. 
It  is  enough  for  us  that  this  is  true  of  many  of  them ;  which  I  flatter 
myself  I  have  shewed  in  this  first  essay  of  explanation  of  the  ancient 
writing,  since  the  explication  I  give  of  it  is  simple,  plain,  and  strictly 
connected  both  with  the  common  notions  and  the  wants  of  the  first  men. 

The  Egyptians,  who  had  contracted  a  habit  of  adoring  the  sun  as 
God,  as  the  author  of  all  good,  and  looked  on  Osiris  as  their  founder, 
ran  headlong  into  a    third   abyss.       They,  from   a  confused  remem- 

*From ceri  or  cri,  which  has  the  same  sense  in  French,  and  from  — —  ber, 

the  vault,  the  grave cerber. 

5 


34  DOGMAS    AND    CV6T0Mf    OT 

brance,  and  an  universal  custom,  knew  thatthis  figure  of  Osiris  related 
to  the  sun,  and  it  was  indeed  nothing  else  in  its  first  institution.  They 
besides  saw  the  circle  the  character  of  God  placed  frequently  enough 
on  Osiris' s  forehead.  They  then  perpetually  joined  the  idea  of  Ham- 
mon  with  that  of  the  sun,  and  both  these  with  that  of  God.  They  no 
longer  honored  God  nor  the  sun,  without  singing  at  the  same  time  the 
favors  of  Osiris  or  Hammon.  The  one  was  still  inseperably  connected 
with  the  other  ;  which  made  them  give  out,  that  Hammon  or  Osiris 
had  been  transported  into  the  sun,  there  to  make  his  residence,  and  that 
he  thence  continually  protected  Egypt,  taking  a  delight  in  pouring  a 
greater  plenty  upon  the  country  inhabited  by  his  offspring,  than  on  any 
other  land  in  the  universe.  Thus  being  gradually  come  to  ascribing 
divinity,  and  offering  their  worship  to  the  ruler  representing  the  func- 
tions of  the  sun  ;  they,  to  complete  the  absurdity,  took  him  for  the  first 
of  their  kings.  Thence  this  odd  mixture  of  three  inconsistent  notions 
I  mean  of  God,  of  the  sun,  and  of  a  dead  man,  which  the  Egyptians 
perpetually  confounded  together. 

Jehov,  Ammon^  Neptune,  Pluto. 

That  religion  which  grossly  indulged  the  self-love  and  vanity  of 
the  Egyptians,  easily  found  favor,  and  took  root  in  the  minds  of  the 
people.  The  rest  of  the  symbols  took  the  same  turn.  They  inquired 
who  was  the  Poseidon  or  Neptune,  that  is,  the  marine  Osiris,  the  sym- 
bol of  the  annual  return  of  the  fleets  ;  and  they  made  of  him  a  god  who 
delighted  in  the  sea,  as  Osiris  did  in  the  heaven.  The  funeral  Osiris 
who  declared  the  anniversary  of  funerals,  had  also  his  own  history  : 
and  as  all  the  ceremonies  belonging  to  burials,  instead  of  being  taken  in 
their  true  sense,  that  is,  as  public  instructions  upon  the  state  of  the  just, 
after  death,  had  by  degrees  been  looked  upon  as  pictures  of  the  real 
treatment  given  to  the  dead  under  ground  and  in  delightful  gardens : 
they,  of  Pluto  or  of  the  symbol  of  the  deliverance  of  the  just,  made  a 
god,  who  presided  over  the  abodes  of  the  dead. 

The  pretended' god  Neptune,  (Herodot,  in  Euterp.)  who  became 
the  favorite  deity  of  the  maritime  nations,  was  almost  unknown  to  and 
hardly  worshiped  among  the  Egyptians,  who  hated  the  sea,  and  who 
living  in  plenty  of  every  thing,  hardly  ever  went  out  of  their  own 
country.  On  the  contrary,  as  they  were  very  exact  in  the  outward  prac- 
tice of  their  religious  ceremonies,  the  funeral  anniversaries  which  were 
frequently  repeated,  rendered  Pluto  much  more  renowned  among  them. 

We  often  see  round  the  head  of  the  Egyptian  Pluto  a  radiant 


THE    ANCIENT    EGYPTIANS.  35 

crown,  and  round  his  body  a  serpent  sometimes  accompanied  with  the 
signs  of  the  zodiac  ;  which  evidently  signifies  the  duration  of  one 
sun,  that  is,  of  one  year.  And  it  is  plain  here,  that  the  author  of  the 
Saturnals,  who  pretended  that  Pluto  and  many  other  gods  were  origin- 
ally nothing  but  the  sun,  had  great  reason  to  think  so,  since  Jupiter, 
Ammon,  Neptune,  and  Pluto,  are  in  reality  no  more  than  the  symbol 
of  one  solar  year  diversified  according  to  particular  circumstances. 
They  did  not  quite  lose  sight  of  the  unity  of  their  origin  in  making 
persons  of  them  :  for  they  made  them  three  brothers,  who,  as  they 
said,  had  divided  the  empire  of  the  world  between  them. 

Ham  or  Hammon  being  commonly  called  God  Jehov,  Jehov- Am- 
mon, the  city  of  Thebes  where  he  had  dwelt  longest,  and  which  they 
anciently  called  Ammon's  abode,  (Ammonno)  was  afterwards  called 
the  city  of  God.     (Diospolis.) 

This  word  Jehov,  in  its  primitive  use,  signified  the  father  of  lifet 
the  supreme  being.  The  Greeks  translated  it  by  that  of  Zeus  or  Dios  ;* 
and  the  Romans  by  that  of  Deus  :  all  names  having  the  same  sense,  if 
they  be  not  the  same  sound  diversified  according  to  the  pronunciation 
of  different  people.  They  sometimes  joined  to  it  the  name  of  father, 
which  was  but  an  interpretation  of  it,  and  called  him  Diospiter  or  Jovpi- 
ter.  The  Ammon  which  by  a  stupid  kind  of  love  was  confounded  with 
God,  and  with  Osiris  or  the  star  moderator  of  seasons,  became  the  famous 
Jo V- Ammon  or  the  Jupiter- Ammon,  and  had  always  the  first  honors 
paid  to  him,  after  the  other  symbols  had  in  like  manner  been  converted 
into  so  many  celestial  personages  and  powerful  deities.  The  reason  of 
this  pre-eminence  is  founded  on  their  having  annexed  the  idea  of  that 
their  founder  of  colony  to  the  most  brilliant  of  all  their  symbols,  I  mean, 
their  Osiris. 

The  establishment  of  the  laws.   Menes 

The  rural  works  not  being  resumed  in  Egypt,  till  after  the  Nile  had 
quitted  the  plain,  they,  for  this  reason,  gave  the  public  sign  of  husbandry 
the  name  of  Moses  or  Museus  (saved  from  the  waters  ;  )  and  on  the 
same  account,  the  moons  during  which  Horus  Apollo,  or  husbandry, 
continued  his  exercises,  went  also  by  the  same  name.  ^ 

About  the  end  of  autumn,  the  inhabitants  being  freed  from  the  works 
of  the  field,  manufactured  in  their  night — work  the  line  thread  and 

*They  sometimes  changed  this  word  into  that  of  zerit  which  comes  from  zan  Imd 
zao  to  live.   Which  makes  the  same  sense. 


36  DOGMAS    AND    CUSTOMS    OF 

cloth,  which  were  one  gf  their  chief  riches.     The  sign  which  was  the 
publication  of  it,  took  thence  the  name  of  Linus,  which  signifies  icatch- 

ing,  the  setting  up  in  the  night.  ( Lyn,  to   watch.)     The  star  that 

lights  the  night  has  on  this  account  retained  the  same  name,  and  so 
has  the  matter  itself  that  was  manufactured  during  those  watchings. 

This  sign  has  evidently  given  birth  to  the  tales  of  Linus,  Museus, 
Orpheus,  Picus,  Ganymede,  and  many  other  pretended  heroes  or  legis- 
lators, of  which  it  is  needless  to  pretend  to  determine  and  fix  the 
chronology  and  the  above. 

The  custom  they  had,  to  publish  the  several  regulations  concerning 
polity,  by  the  several  postures  of  the  son  of  Osiris,  caused  him  to  be 
commonly  called  Menes,  that  is,  the  rule  of  the  people.  The  Egyp- 
tians from  this  new  title  took  it  into  their  heads,  that  Menes  had  been 
their  legislator,  the  author  of  their  polity,  the  orderer  of  their  year,  the 
founders  of  their  laws.  For  this  reason,  they  put  this  imaginary  foun. 
der  at  the  head  of  all  the  lists  of  the  kings  of  their  several  provinces. 

The  name  of  Moses  or  Museus  was  very  properly  given  to  the 
public  sign  of  the  revival  of  husbandry.  This  word,  which  signified 
the  drying  up,  made  part  of  the  calendar :  it  was  the  summary  and  the 
substance  of  a  statute  of  polity.  It  Avas  every  year  in  the  mouth  of  the 
people,  after  the  re-entering  of  the  river  within  its  banks.  It  was  not 
then  a  man's  name.  But  if  Menes  and  Museus  are  but  one  and  the 
same  thing ;  if  they  are  only  the  names  of  the  same  sign  ;  what  then 
becomes  of  the  first  king  of  Egypt,  the  foundation  of  their  history  ?  He, 
from  that  moment,  loses  all  his  reality. 

Two  of  the  most  learned  men  among  the  ancients,  Eusebius  in  his 
evangelical  preparation,  and  St.  Clement  in  his  exhortation  to  the  Gen- 
tiles, by  preserving  and  handing  down  to  us  the  ancient  set-form 
whereby  they  incited  those  that  were  initiated  into  the  mysteries  to 
imbibe  religious  sentiments  and  love  work,  have  helped  us  to  find  out 
exactly  what  the  famous  Menes  was.  The  instructions  given  therein 
for  good  conduct,  are  addressed  to  work  itself  It  is  called  the  son 
of  the  star  of  the  day,  because  husbandry  can  do  nothing  without  the 
sun.  Again,  it  is  called  Museus  ;  because  in  Egypt,  whence  this  set. 
form  came,  husbandry  did  not  resume  its  operations  but  till  after  the 
retiring  of  the  waters.  In  short,  it  is  surnamed  Menes  *  in  the  same 
set-form,  that  is  rule  of  the  people.  Therefore,  this  pretended  founder  of 
the  Egyptian  monarchy  has  not  more  reality  in  him  than  his  father 


•  Harken  thou,  O  Menes  Museus,  son  of  the  star  of  the  day. 


THE     ANCIENT    EGYPTIANS.  37 

Osiris,  the  ancient  character  of  the  sun,  nor  more  than  Museus  another 
character  of  the  revival  of  the  tilling  of  the  lands  and  of  the  operation 
of  sowing. 

Amihis,   Thot,  jEsculapms. 

The  falsity  of  the  ancient  history  of  Egypt  is  completely  demon- 
strated by  the  abuse  they  further  made  of  the  fourth  key  of  their  sym- 
bolical writing.  It  was  the  figure  of  a  man  with  a  dog's  head,  wear- 
ing oftentimes  a  pole  with  one  or  two  serpents  twisted  about  it.  The 
meaning  and  intention  of  the  public  sign  exposed  in  the  assembly  at 
the  rising  of  the  dog  star,  was  to  advise  the  people  to  run  away  and 
give  attention  to  the  depth  of  the  inundation,  in  order  to  rule  their 
ploughing  accordingly,  and  to  secure  their  lives  and  subsistence.  The 
names  given  to  this  public  sign  were  Anubis  the  barker;  the  giver  of 
advices  or  Tahaut  the  dog,  or  ^Esculapius  the  man-dog.  *  It  was  still 
the  same  meaning  or  the  same  public  sign  ;  but  they  were  three  names 
for  one  and  the  same  thing.  A  sufficient  ground  for  them  to  derive  from 
thence  three  personages  of  their  history,  the  chronology  whereof  will  be 
still  lengthened  by  this  means.  They  make  their  demi-god  Anubis  to 
reign  before  Menes,  without  telling  us  where.  They  make  Thot  or 
Thaautes  son  of  Menes,  their  second  king  of  Egypt.  They  make  him 
a  counsellor  to  Menes.  They  ascribe  to  him  the  introduction  of  the 
letters,  the  invention  of  music  and  dancing,  with  a  great  many  other 
fine  discoveries  ;  the  foundation  of  which  is  because  the  dog-star  opened 
the  year,,  brought  along  with  it  a  new  series  of  feasts,  and  appeared  at 
the  head  of  all  the  letters  or  symbolical  figures  which  expressed  the 
annual  order.  Though  ^sculapius  was  as  yet  no  more  than  the  sign 
of  the  canicular  star,  the  Egyptians  made  him  a  third  king,  who  had 
applied  himself  to  the  procuring  the  preservation  of  his  subjects  by  the 
study  of  physic ;  a  notion  that  had  its  origin  from  the  preservation  of 
life  which  was  expressed  by  the  serpents  twisted  about  the  measure  of 
the  Nile.  Such  is  the  origin  of  the  serpent  of  Epidaurus,  and  the  very 
plain  reason  for  which  the  serpent  has  always  been  inseparable  from 
the  god  of  physic,  to  which  art  both  the  man  and  the  animal  had  origi- 
nally no  manner  of  relation.  Several  historians  quoted  by  sir  John 
Marsham  in  his  rule  of  times  (Chronicus  Canon.)  attributed  theinven- 

♦  From aish  man,  and  from caleph  dog,  comes ceaaleph  the  man  dog. 

The  Greeks  called  him  a^trokuon,  the  star-dog. 


38  D0GMA8    AND    CUSTOMS    OF 

tion  of  the  letters  to  ^Esculapius  as  well  as  to  Tahaut.  Which  was 
doin^  them  justice,  the  one  not  being  different  from  the  other.  Marsham 
is  most  earnestly  angry  with  those  who  have  thus  confounded  things  and 
altered  history,  by  attributing  to  iEsculapius  the  invention  which  is  the 
glory  of  Thot.  This  he  patches  up  to  the  best  of  his  power.  But  it 
was  very  superfluous,  here  to  have  recourse  to  means  of  reconciliation  ; 
since  iEsculapius  or  the  man-dog,  and  the  Tahaut,  or  the  dog-star,  as 
well  as  Anubis,  were  no  more  than  the  names  of  one  figure  that  was 
exposed  in  the  assembly  of  the  people,  to  warn  them  of  the  appearance 
of  that  star,  the  rising  of  which  would  soon  be  succeeded  by  the  inun- 
dation.* 

The  Gods  of  Egypt  communicated  to  Asia  and  Europe  hy  the 
Phenicians. 

Egypt  always  was  and  still  is  the  most  fruitful  country  in  the  world. 
The  harvest,  which  is  almost  certain  there,  and  by  much  exceeds  the 
wants  of  the  inhabitants,  occasioned  great  quantities  of  corn  to  be  amas- 
sed there,  which  in  barren  years  were  the  resource  of  the  Arabians, 
the  Canaanites,  the  Syrians,  and  the  Greeks.  Travelers  whom  need 
or  curiosity  had  dravim  thither,  and  the  Phenicians  especially,  who 
inhabited  but  a  small  maritime  coast  near  mount  Libanus,  and  had  no 
granary  so  certain  as  Egypt,  were  all  equally  struck  with  the  polity 
that  reigned  in  every  part  of  that  beautiful  country,  with  the  gentle 
temper  of  the  inhabitants,  the  mysterious  outside  of  the  ceremonies  and 
feasts  which  were  with  much  pomp  celebrated  there,  and  finally  with  the 
plenty  which  they  looked  upon  as  miraculous  in  a  country  where  it 
never  rained.  The  notion  they  had  of  that  river  whose  source  remained 
concealed,  and  whose  overflowings  seemed  to  them  contrary  to  the 
common  course  of  nature,  made  them  say,  that  God  himself  poured 
these  beneficial  waters  on  Egypt.  (Fluvius  a  Deo  missus.  Odyss.  4,) 
The  Egyptians  represented  this  marvel  by  the  figure  of  God,  that  isi 
by  a  sun  out  of  whose  mouth  a  river  sprung  ;t  and  the  foreigners  as 

**  ^sculapius  was  sometitnes  represented  either  standing,  or  setting  on  a  throne, 
holding  in  one  hand  a  staff,  and  grasping  with  the  other  the  head  of  a  serpent :  at  his 
feet  a  dog  lay  extended.  On  some  ancient  monuments  we  see  hira  with  one  hand 
applied  to  his  beard,  and  having  in  the  other  a  knotted  staff  encircled  by  a  serpent. — 
Anthon's,  Clas.  Diet.— Edit. 

+For  this  reason  it  was,  that  they  gave  God  or  the  sun  among  other  titles  that  of 

pheob  Phabua  or  Phoihos  which  signifies  the  mouth  of  Ob,  that  is  the  source  qf 

the  overjlowing,  from  the  two  words, pheb,  os,  the  mouth,  and 06  the 

swelhng,  the  overflowing  ;  it  is  the  ancient  name  they  gave  to  the  Nile  overflowing  its 
banks. 


THE    ANCIENT    EGYPT^AN6.  39 

well  as  the  Egyptians  every  where  gave  it  out,  that  so  singular  a 
prosperity  was  the  reward  of  the  piety  of  the  inhabitants.  Nay,  the 
Phenicians  perhaps  and  the  Canaanites  at  first  received  from  the 
Egyptians  and  used  the  symbolical  characters  among  themselves. 
The  introduction  of  the  common  writing  must  have,  caused  them  to 
lose  the  sense  without  suppressing  the  figures  ;  so  that  these  symbols 
being  always  a  part  of  the  ceremonies,  and  publicly  exposed  at  feasts, 
every  body  annexed  to  them  the  notion  or  history  he  thought  carried 
the  greater  likelihood  with  it.  Thus  Egypt  was  the  cup  wherein  the 
poison  of  idolatry  lay,  and  the  Phenicians  are  the  people,  who,  by  trav- 
eling all  over  the  world,  have  presented  this  fatal  cup  to  the  greater 
part  of  the  western  nations.  For  the  same  reason  it  is,  that  the  names 
of  the  gods  and  the  words  made  use  of  in  the  heathen  feasts,  have  so 
sensible  an  analogy  with  the  Phenician  language. 

Travellers  and  merchants,  during  their  sojourn  in  Egypt,  were 
undoubtedly  struck  with  the  outward  shew  of  the  feasts  and  the  abun- 
dance that  seemed  to  be  the  result  of  them.  They  did  not  carry  home 
this  multitude  of  symbols  and  practices  which  they  understood  nothing 
of  but  they  seldom  failed  to  look  with  veneration  upon  the  three  or 
four  chief  symbols  which  the  Egyptians  honored  as  beneficial  powers, 
and  as  the  authors  of  all  the  good  they  enjoyed. 

The  governor,  the  woman,  the  child,  and  the  messenger,  or  the 
giver  of  advices,  always  appearing  in  their  feasts,  though  with  some 
variety;  foreigners  used  themselves  chiefly  to  these  three  or  four 
objects,  the  most  distinguished  of  the  whole  worship  :  and  the  Pheni- 
cians, whom  constant  necessity  always  brought  again  to  the  port  of. 
Pharos,  were  the  first  who  made  use  of  the  same  ceremonial,  and  cel- 
ebrated the  same  feasts  in  their  own  country.  The  circle  of  the  sun, 
accompanied  with  serpents  and  foliages,  or  with  large  wings  to  repre- 
sent the  intelligence  which  is  the  mover  of  all  things,  the  master  of  the 
air,  the  dispenser  of  seasons  and  harvests,  though  always  placed  at  top 
of  the  noblest  symbols,  however  less  attracted  the  eyes  than  did  the 
brilliant  figure  of  the  governor  of  the  earth,  or  the  several  dresses 
given  the  mother  and  the  beloved  child.  Nothing  contributed  more  to 
humanize,  as  I  may  say,  the  idea  of  God,  or  rather  to  make  men  refer 
their  worship  and  adorations  to  beings  like  ourselves. 

Moloch,  Baal,  Adonis,  and  Achad. 

The  god,  or  rather  the  figure  of  the  sun,  which  the  Egyptians  called 
Osiris^  or  the  governor  of  the  earth,  assumed  other  names  in  other 


40  DOGMAS  AND  CUSTOMS  OF 

places.  The  eastern  nations  who  had  adopted  him,  and  who  looked 
on  their  temporal  advantages  as  the  effect  of  this  devotion,  called  him 
Moloch  or  Melckom,  that  is  the  king ;  some,  Baal  or  Adonai,  or 
Adonis,  or  Hero*  all  which  names  signify  the  lord.  Others  called  him 
Achad,j  which  the  old  inhabitants  of  Latium  have  rendered  by  that  of 
Sol,unicus  ;  and  others  finally  named  him  Baalshamain  or  Beelsamen  % 
the  lord  of  the  heavens.  But  it  was  ahvays  the  sun  which  these  fig- 
ures of  a  king  and  these  names  immediately  signified. 

Dio7iyisus,  Bacchus. 

In  the  times  when  things  were  expressed  by  symbols,  and  the  several 
parts  of  these  symbols  were  varied  to  be  the  better  understood,  far  from 
being  designed  to  conceal  any  mystery ;  the  figure  of  Horus  changed 
its  name  and  attributes  according  to  the  exigency  of  the  circumstances 
in  which  it  was  employed.  The  first  use  it  w^as  applied  to  in  certain 
feasts  was  the  representation  of  past  events.  The  second  was  the 
instruction  and  the  regulations  fit  for  the  people. 

The  representation  of  the  ancient  state  of  mankind  consisted,  not 
only  in  the  commemorative  signs  that  were  carried  either  upon  a  win- 
nowing van  or  in  the  small  chest  before  mentioned  :  they  joined  thereto 
ceremonies  or  set  forms  of  prayers  regarding  the  same  intention.  They, 
in  these  feasts,  invoked  the  name  of  God  with  great  lamentations.  They 
called  him  the  mighty,  the  life,  the  father  of  life.  They  implored  his 
assistance  against  wild  beasts,  and  made  show  of  giving  them  chace, 
running  hither  and  thither,  as  if  they  were  going  to  attack  them.  They 
even  did  it  in  good  earnest  completely  armed. 

It  was  the  custom  to  say  with  a  sigh  :  Let  us  cry  unto  the  hard, 
io  terombe,  or  disterombe.  Let  us  cry  before  the  Lord,  ot  God  see  our 
tears,  io  Bacche,  io  Baccoth.  Thou  art  the  life,  the  author  of  being. 
Thou  art  God  and  the  mighty :  Jehova,  hevan,  hevoe,  and  eloah. 
They  chiefly  said  in  the  east :  God  is  the  fire  and  the  principle  of  life. 
Thou  art  the  fire  ;  life  proceeds  from  thee  :  hu  esh  :  atta  esh.*  All 
these  words  and  many  others,  which  were  the  expressions  of  grief  and 

♦  See  the  name  of  hero  in  that  sense  in  the  interpretation  of  the  obelisk  of  Ramesses 
in  Ammian  Marcellin,  or  in  Marsham's  rule  of  times.  From  that  hero,  the  Latins  made 
their  herus  and  hera,  the  lord,  the  lady.  The  Philistines  called  him  the  lord  of  men, 
mamas,  from  the  word  marav,  which  signifies  the  master,  and  from  as  which  signi- 
fies man.    And  this  comes  to  the  sense  of  the  foregoing  names. 

t achacl,  unicus,  and  by  a  softened  pronunciation,  adad,  one.  the  only.     The 

ancieni  kings  of  Syria,  who  styled  themselves  his  children,  assumed  the  name  of  Ben- 
adad  son  of  God.     See  Macrob.  Saturnal. 

t Dominus  caloruTn. 

S  Hu  esh  —  ipst  est  ignis,  Deuteron,  4  :  24.    Atta  esh,  tu  vita  es.  See  Strabo,  1, 10. 


DOGMAS    AND    CUSTOMS    OF  41 

adoration,  became  so  many  titles,  which  the  people,  without  under- 
standing-, gave  to  this  child  or  imaginary  deity.  He  was  then  called 
Bacchos,  Hevan,  Evoe,  Dithyrambus,  Jao,  Eleleus,  Ves,  Attes.  They 
knew  not,  what  all  this  signified  :  but  they  were  sure  that  the  god  of 
the  feast  delighted  in  all  these  titles.  They  never  failed  to  give  them 
him,  and  thus  these  expressions  became  cries  of  joy,  or  extravagant 
roarings. 

When  people  went  about  pursuing  the  wild  beasts  that  thwartetl 
the  endeavors  of  husbandmen,  they  cried  aloud  :  Lord  thou  art  an 
host  to  me,  io  Sabio.  Lord  !  be  my  guide,  io  Nissi,  or  with  a  different 
accent  Dionissi.*  Of  these  warlike  cries,  which  were  repeated  with- 
out being  understood,  they  made  the  names  of  Sabasius  and  Dionysius 

Of  all  these  names,  that  were  most  used  in  Italy  was  Baccoth.  The 
delicate  ear  of  the  Greeks,  who  could  not  indure  harsh  sounds,  gave 
the  preference  to  the  name  of  Dionysius.  These  several  titles  (and  the 
series  of  them  was  long)  gave  birth  to  as  many  histories  Thus  they 
called  this  god  Dionysius,  because  he  was  son  of  Jehov  or  Jupiter,  and 
born  at  Nysa  an  Arabian  city.  He  was  named  Evius,  because,  as  he 
was  fighting  with  one  of  the  giants,  Jupiter  encouraged  him  in  the 

Greek   language,   and But  if  we  now  are  sure  of  truth,  why 

should  we  busy  ourselves  in  enumerating  such  sorry  tales  ?  We  are 
no  way  concerned  to  hear  all  the  nonsense,  which  the  want  of  under- 
standing these  names  f  has  caused  to  be  built  upon  each  of  them. 

Let  us  now  pass  on  to  the  retinue  of  Bacchus.  We  shall  there  find 
a  proof,  that  Bacchus  was  no  more  than  a  mask  or  figure,  and  not  any 
man  that  ever  existed. 

When  the  arts  were  once  invented,  the  remembrance  of  the  rough- 
ness of  the  first  ages,  and  the  comparison  of  the  hardships  which  man- 
kind had  at  first  experienced  with  the  conveniences  and  inventions  of 
latter  times,  rendered  the  rural  feasts  or  the  feasts  of  the  representation 
of  the  ancient  state  of  men,  more  brisk  and  lively  than  all  the  rest. 

One  of  the  njost  essential  points  of  this  feast  was  then  to  appear 

*  The  supplications  in  Masonry  are  similar  lo  the  above.  In  the  degree  of  royal 
arch,  the  following  ejaculations  are  utered  :— "Lord  I  cry  unto  thee:  make  haste  unto 
me  :  give  ear  unto  my  voice.  Mine  eyes  are  unto  thee  O  God  the  Lord  ;  in  thee  is  my 
trust ;  leave  not  my  soul  destitute.  I  cried  unto  thee,  O  Lord  ;  I  said,  thou  art  my 
refuge,  and  my  portion  in  the  land  of  the  living.  Attend  unto  my  cry  ;  for  I  am 
brought  very  low  :  deliver  me  from  my  persecutors  ;  for  they  are  stronger  than  I. 
Hear  my  prayer,  O  Lord  ;  give  ear  to  my  supplications  :^m  thy  faithfulness  answer  me 
and  in  thy  righteousness." — (Webb.)— ^cZi<, 

tThese  fables  may  be  seen  in  the  hymns  attributed  to  Orpheus  and  Homer  ;in  the 
poems  of  Hesiod  and  Ovid  ;  in  the  hymns  of  Callimachus ;  in  the  mythologies  oiNad 
le  Comte,  and  others. 

6 


42  DOGMAS    AND    CUSTOMS    OF 

there  corered  with  skins  of  goats  *  bucks,  tygers,  and  of  otheir  tame 
and  wild  animals.  They  smeared  their  faces  with  blood,  to  bear  the 
marks  of  the  danger  they  had  run  and  the  victory  they  had  obtained. 

Instead  of  a  child  of  metal  mysteriously  carried  about  in  a  chest,  they 
by  degrees  contracted  a  custom  of  choosing  a  good  fat  jolly  boy,  to  play 
the  part  of  the  imaginary  god.  They  in  process  of  time  gave  him  a 
chariot;  and  to  render  the  whole  more  admirable,  the  pretended  tygers 
offered  to  draw  him,  whilst  the  bucks,  and  goats  were  jumping  and 
capering  round  him.  The  assistants  disguised  and  masked  in  this  man- 
ner had  names  agreeable  to  what  they  were  doing.  They  were  called 
Satyrs,  a  Avord  which  signifies  men  disguised  f  or  Fauni,  that  is 
masks.  These  etymologies  which  are  very  plain,  and  strictly  con- 
nected with  what  precedes,  are  still  confirmed  by  the  usage  which  the 
assistants  at  these  rural  feasts  observed  of  consecrating  to  Bacchus,  and 
of  suspending  on  the  tree  under  which  they  made  their  last  station, 
the  mask  of  bark  or  other  matter,  wherewith  they  had  covered  their 
face,  that  they  might  have  a  share  in  the  ceremony.  The  feasts  of 
Bacchus  have  been  abolished  by  the  preaching  of  the  gospel ;  but  we 
see  the  remains  of  them  among  us  in  our  winter  rejoicings.  It  is  the 
same  concern,  and,  with  no  great  difference,  the  same  idolatry.'^ 

Those  who  followed  or  attended  the  chariot  of  Bacchus,  were 
called  Bacchants,  that  is,  mourners,  because  the  feast  began  with  woes 
and  complaints,  and  with  frequent  invocations  on  the  assistance  of  God. 

The  woman,  who  carried  the  small  chest  or  the  sacred  baskets,  or 
at  least  a  thyrsus,^  which  was  sometimes  a  javelin,  in  memory  of  the 
first  chaces ;  sometimes  a  torch  of  resiny  wood,  were  called  Menades 
Thyades,  and  Bassarides.     They  were  named  Menades,  which  signi- 

♦  This  is  what  the  Latins  expressed  by  Thyasos  inducere  :to  form  choruses  of  peo- 
ple dressed  like  goats  and  rams. thiasim  fiirci  et  arietes,  Genes.  30 ;  35. 

t -Jatnr,  hidden,  disguised, panim  or  pltanim,  fades ^  'prosopa^personoe,  oscilla^ 

masks.  Those  panim  or  liideous  masks  could  not  fail  frightening  your  children.  For 
this  reason  it  is,  that  fears  occasioned  by  appearances  of  evil  void  of  reality,  have  been 
called  terreurs  paniques,  panicle  terrors.  Such  is  evidently  the  origin  of  the  name 
given  to  the  god  of  Mendes,  viz.  Pan,  in  whose  horns  and  hair  the  philosophers  thought 
they  had  found  a  very  noble  emblem  of  general  nature.  Those  who  are  fond  of  these 
admirable  conceptions,  may  look  out  for  them  in  the  allegoric  explications  of  Plutarch, 
lamblichus,  Psellus,  the  emperor  Julian,  and  Plato. 

tl  have  read  in  an  English  paper,  that  anciently  it  was  not  unusual  for  a  wag,  on 
the  first  of  January,  to  burst  into  a  neighbor's  house  disguised  in  an  ox's  hide,  including 
that  of  the  head  with  the  horns  attached. — Edit. 

§  Thyrsus,  a  rod  or  lance  twisted  round  with  ivy,  which  was  put  into  the  hand  of  the 
Boldiers  of  Bacchus,  or  of  those  who  celebrated  his  festivals.  Ovid  describes  them  as 
wound  about  with  vine  branches. 

The  Jews  do  at  this  day  carry  a  sort  ofThyrsii  or  something  like  them,  in  the  feasts 
of  Tahemaeles  and  especially  in  the  Hoeanna  Rahha.  They  are  branches  of  wil- 
low,m3ni  tie  and  palm-tree,  bound  up  together  with  citrons  or  oranges,  which  they  wave 
or  pu»n  m  arciigioiw  manner  towards  the  four  quarters  of  the  world.— (Bailey.)— JEdi<^ 


TIIS    ANCIKNT    EGYPTIANS  it 

fies,  the  women  who  carry  the  public  signs,  because  the  feasts  or  th« 
regulations,  and  all  the  sacred  figures  inseparable  from  them,  were  in 
the  ancient  language  called  Manes,  that  is,  regulations.  This  the 
Greeks  rendered  Thismoi.  The  extravagant  attitudes  of  these  mad 
women,  who  strove  to  outvie  each  other  by  the  lamentations  and  rep- 
resenting gestures  authorized  by  custom,  were  thence  called  Mania. 
These  woman  again  were  called  the  Thyades,  that  is  vagrant  or  wan- 
dering, when  they  dispersed  themselves  in  the  mountains  like  so  many 
huntresses.  They  were  called  Bassarides  or  grape-geatherers,  because 
these  feasts  were  celebrated  after  vintage,  and  when  new  wine  began  to 
be  drinkable.* 

After  the  vagaries  and  the  whole  train,  at  last  appeared  an  old  man 
upon  an  ass,  ^vho  advanced  with  a  sedate  countenance,  offering  wine 
to  the  tired  youth,  and  inviting  every  body  to  take  some  rest,  f 

If  any  body  should  complain  that  this  explication  of  the  origin  of 
the  Bacchanals  does  not  establish  a  relation  sufficiently  sensible 
between  wine  and  the  feasts  of  Bacchus,  who  from  all  antiquity,  has 
been  looked  upon  as  the  inventor  and  propagator  of  the  vine,  whereas 
we  reduce  it  to  the  proclamation  of  a  few  instructions,  which  the  peo- 
ple stood  in  need  of ;  I  shall  reply,  that  the  feasts  of  Bacchus  etnd  Ceres 
are  every  where  styled  among  the  Greeks  and  Romans,  the  feasts  of 
the  regulations ;  because  they  confusedly  remembered,  that  the  purport 
and  intention  of  the  figures  of  Isis  and  Horus  was  to  regulate  the  con- 
duct of  the  people.  And  I  shall  at  the  same  time  desire  such,  to  take 
notice  of  what  Horus  carries  over  his  head  at  the  solemnity  of  the 
Pamylia,  or  at  the  beginning  of  the  winter.  Among  other  objects 
capable  of  pleasing,  there  appear  three  large  pitchers  of  wine.  Thi? 
was  the  finest  part  of  the  ceremonial :  and  the  feasts  where  this  liquor 
was  drunk  in-  plenty  could  not  but  be  the  most  brisk  and  most  enliv- 
ened of  all.  

I  have  considerably  abridged  the  preceding  article..  That  the  Bacchus  honored  in 
the  processions  here  described  was  not,  as  the  author  states,  a  man  that  ever  lived,  is 
very  evident ;  but  that  the  figure  representing  him  was  merely  a  symbol  ofhttsbandry 
as  he  endeavors  to  show,  is  not  so  clear.  The  festivals  were  religious  thanksgivings,  in 

*  After  the  virgins,  followed  a  company  of  men  carrying  pale^:  at  tha  end  of  which 
were  fastened  phalloi.  The  heads  of  these  men  were  crowned  with  ivy  and  violets, 
and  their  faces  covered  with  other  herbs.  They  marched  singing  songs  upon  the 
occasion  of  the  festival. — Anthon's  Lemp,  class  Diet. — Edit. 

t  Ibat  pando  Silenus  asello. 

•'  It  was  the  custom,  at  the  celebration  of  the  Eleusinian  mysteries,  as  we  are  told  by 
the  Scoliast  on  the  place,  to  have  what  was  wanted  in  those  rites,  carried  upon  Asfaa* 
Hence  the  proverb,  Asinus  portat  mysteria" — Warb,  Div.  heg.—Edit. 


44  DOGMAS    AND    CUSTOMS    OF 

which  grateful  acknowledgments  were  rendered  for  the  favors  received  from  the  hand 
of  divine  providence,  and  the  image  intended  to  represent  the  god  who  was  supposed  to 
bestow  these  blessings,  was  ceremoniously  carried  in  procession.  The  Bacchanals 
were  similar  to  the  feasts  noticed  in  the  memorials  of  past  events,  with  trifling  varia- 
tions arising  from  a  difference  of  taste,  and  misconceptions  in  the  conveyance  of  cus- 
toms from  one  country  to  another. 

The  Roman  Catholic  processions  of  the  Hcst  are  of  the  same  nature  as  the  above,and 
no  doubt  the  custom,  like  most  of  the  practices  of  the  church  of  Rome,  has  been 
derived  from  the  ancient  pagan  ceremonies.  The  catholic  processions,  it  seems,  are 
conducted  with  more  mystic,  solemn  pomp  than  those  of  the  ancients,  but  the  ruffian 
assaults  of  the  guards  or  assistants  in  this  affair,  of  persons  walking  in  the  streets,  who 
are  not  even  within  the  pale  of  their  order,  for  neglecting  to  fall  upon  their  knees, 
on  the  passage  of  the  host,  is  more  outrageous  than  the  extravagancies  of  their  pro- 
totype. • 

The  masonic  processions  are  identically  the  same  thing  as  the  Bacchanals,  but  got 
up  with  more  taste  and  refinement,  owing  to  the  influence  of  civilization.  In  these 
are  carried,  besides  other  articles,  which  will  hereafter  be  enumerated,  a  box  or  chest, 
called  the  lodge,  about  which  much  secrecy  is  pretended,  and  which  is  kept  covered 
from  the  eyes  of  the  profane  or  uninitiated.  The  utmost  decorum  is  observed,  and  no 
person  is  annoyed  for  not  paying  homage  to  the  sacred  contents  of  of  the  mysterious 
chest. 

The  author  himself  in  the  next  article  to  the  foregoing,  has  told  us  who  Bacchus 
really  was,  and  which  fully  explains  the  understanding  that  should  be  applied  to  these 
Bacchanalian  processions  ;   as  follows  : — 


The  scepter  and  empire  of  heaven  and  earth  fell  to  the  share  of 
Osiris.  The  chariot,  the  whip,  and  the  reins  were  assigned  to  Apollo  ; 
whence  it  is  that  we  so  commonly  find  in  one  god  the  characters  of 
another.  The  Horus  Apollo,  who  was  only  related  to  the  rural  year 
or  the  order  of  works,  was  the  more  easily  mistaken  for  the  sun  which 
rules  nature,  that  they  put  the  whip  and  the  attributes  of  the  sun  into  the 
hands  of  the  Horus,  in  order  to  shorten  and  abbreviate  the  marks  of  the 
solar  year,  and  of  the  works  suitable  to  each  season.  Thus  Horus  became 
the  same  with  the  Moloch  of  the  Ammonites,  the  iidonis  of  Byblos,  the 
Bel  of  the  other  Phenician  cities,  and  the  radiant  Belenus  honoured  in 
Gaul.  This  driver  of  the  chariot,  which  gives  light  to  the  world,  is  the 
son  of  Jupiter  ;  but  the  son  of  Jehovthe  son  par  excellence,  liher,is  no 
other  than  Horus,  Bacchus  or  Dionysius.  Osiris,  Horus,  Apollo,  Bacchus, 
and  the  sun,  are  then  confounded.  This  the  author  of  the  Saturnals 
has  sufficiently  demonstrated.  Virgil  himself  makes  no  distinction 
between  Bacchus  and  Appollo  or  the  sun,  when  he  gives  Bacchus  and 
Ceres  or  Isis  the  government  of  the  year  and  the  light. 

Vos,  0  clarrissima  mundi 

Lumina,  labentem  ccelo  quae  ducitis  annum. 
Liber  et  alma  Ceres. —  Georgic.  I. 


THE    ANCIENT    EGYPTIANS.  •  45 

Atlas.    The  Hyades  and  Pleiades. 

Atlas,  according  to  the  fable,  was  an  ingenius  master  af  astronomy 
a  doctor  who  knew  nature  in  general,  and  gave  information  about  it. 
Homer  gives  us  Atlas  as  a  very  learned  god,  who  knew  all  the  obli- 
quities of  the  coasts,  and  all  the  depths  of  the  sea.  Virgil  ascribes  to 
the  informations  of  the  great  Atlas  the  knowledge  men  had  acquired 
of  the  moon,   the   eclipses  of  the   sun,  and  the  whole  order  of  nature. 

The  name  signifies  a   support,  ( atlah,  support,  prop,)    which 

gave  occasion  for  the  invention  of  the  metamorphosis  of  the  doctor 
Atlas  into  a  column  or  high  mountain,  that  props  up  the  arch  of  the 
heavens. 

The  Phenicians  in  the  voyages  they  repeated  every  third  year  to* 
Tarshish,  that  is,  to  Cadis,  and  to  Boetica,(now  Andalusia)  through  the 
Red-Sea,  and  in  carrying  on  the  commerce  of  all  the  coasts  of  Africa, 
often  saw  the  highest  mountain  of  Mauritania,  whgse  top  is  generally 
covered  with  snow,  and  seems  joined  with  the  heavens.  The  name  of 
Atlas  or  column  given  to  that  mountain,  caused  the  fable  of  Atlas  to 
be  applied  to  it.  They  said  he  was  king  of  Mauritania  a  great  astro- 
loger and  geographer,  who  at  last  was  by  the  gods  changed  into  a  high 
mountain,  reaching  from  the  earth  to  the  heavens. 

The  Hyades  or  Huades,  who  took  their  name  from  the  figure  V, 
which  they  form  in  the  forehead  of  the  celestial  bull,  and  the  Pleiades, 
which  are  that  small  platoon  of  stars  so  remarkable,  near  the  forego- 
ing, are  the  most  known  and  the  easiest  to  be  distinguished  of  all  the 
constellations  of  the  zodiac.  They  particularly  were  of  use  to  regu- 
late the  informations  given  to  the  disciples  of  the  priests  by  means  of 
an  Atlas,  that  is,  of  a  Horus  bearing  a  celestial  sphere.  Atlas  humani- 
zed, became  the  father  of  the  Hyades  and  Pleiades  ;  and  Orion  which 
rises  immediately  after  them,  easily  passed  in  the  imagination  of  the 
fabulists  for  a  libertine,  who  incessantly  pursues  them. 

Among  the  other  fables  which  the  Phenician  travellers  were  suf- 
ficiently at  leisure  to  devise  in  their  courses,  or  to  recount  when  they 
came  home,  the  two  finest  doubtless  are  those  of  the  garden  of  the 
Hesperides,  and  of  Atlas  freed  by  Hercules  of  the  burden  of  the  celes- 
tial globe.  What  can  be  the  origin  of  the  first  ?  Three  nymphs 
placed  round  a  tree  that  bears  golded  apples,  of  which  they  have  the 
disposition  and  management ;  %  dragon  that  watches  to  interdict  the 
use  of  and  access  to  this  admirable  fruit,  to  any  other  ;  a  wild  goat  that 
browzes  on  the  grass  at  the  foot  of  the  tree  ;  or  instead  of  the  goat,  a 


POO MAS    AND     CUSTOMS     OF 


horn  of  abundance  placed  eitlier  at  the  foot  of  the  tree  or  in  the  hand  of 
one  of  the  three  nymphs.  This  is  the  picture  of  the  garden  of  the 
Hesperides. 

The  picture,  is  nothing  more  than  the  ancient  symbol  of  the  rich 
commerce  of  which  the  Phenicians  made  the  preparations  in  winter. 
It  was  the  commerce  of  Hesperia  or  of  the  western  countries,  particu- 
larly of  Spain,  whence  they  drew  exquisite  wines,  rich  metals,  and  that 
superfine  wool  which  the  Syrians  dyed  in  purple,  (See  Diod,  and  Siraby 
or  Sped,  de  la,  nut,  vol.  4.  part  2,  dialog.  2.)  They  brought  back 
the  finest  .,corn  from  the  coast  of  Africa  ;  and  when  they  went  round 
the  continent  through  the  Red  Sea,  they  exchanged  all  sorts  of  iron- 
ware, knives,  and  edge-tools,  for  ebony  and  other  precious  woods,  for 
gold  dust  and  provisions  of  all  kinds.  This  branch  of  their  commerce 
was  the  most  esteemed  of  all.  It  was  the  chief  object  that  did  then  take 
up  the  thoughts  of  the  Phenicians  ;  nor  did  they  fail  to  expose  the 
public  sign  of  it  in  the  assemblies.  One  may  easily  guess  at  the 
meaning  of  that  tree  which  aflbrded  such  precious  things.  The  great 
dragon  that  surrounded  the  tree,  turned  the  mind  of  the  beholders  to 
the  subsistence  and  benefits  whereof  it  was  the  sign.  The  Capricorn, 
or  barely  one  horn  of  this  animal  placed  at  the  foot  of  the  tree,  was  the 
character  of  the  season.  The  three  moons  during  which  the  compa- 
nies were  formed,  had  their  name  of  Hesperides,  or  Hesperia,  as  well  as 
all  the  West,  from  the  word  which  signifies  the  good  share,  the  best  lot. 
( esper,  2  Sam.  6:  19.) 


The  public  sigv,  used  upon  this  occasion,  was  doubtless  three  golden  balls,  having 
reference  to  the  three  moons,  personified  by  three  nymphs,  in  which  the  companies  were 
formed,  the  figure  and  color  corresponding  with  those  of  the  full  moon.  An  allusion 
may  also  be  made  to  the  gold  dust  and  other  precious  articles,  the  best  lot,  which  the 
Phenicians  received  in  exchange  for  their  merchandise. 

The  Lombards,  the  money-lenders  of  former  times,  are  said  to  have  adopted  this 
sign  for  their  offices ;  and  pawn-brokers  still  use  it,  to  designate  their  profession.  I 
am  sensible  that  some  writers  conjecture  the  golden  apples  of  the  Hesperides  to  be 
nothing  more  than  oranges;  but  it  is  hardly  probable  fhat  an  article  of  so  little  value, 
m  a  mercantile  point  of  view,  should  have  given  rise  to  the  fable. 

Hercules  is  a  name  of  the  sun,  and  his  releaving  Atlas  of  his  burden,  alludes  to  his 
dissolvmg  the  snow  with  which  Atlas  or  the  mountain  of  Moritania  was  loaded. 


^  Mercury,  Her  vies,  Camillus. 

We  have  now  a  pretty  large  number  of  very  famous  men  and 
women,  which  we,  methinks,  have  an  acquired  right  to  strike  out  of 


THE    ANCIENT    EGYPTIANS.  47 

history.  We  must  no  longer  inquire  into  their  country,  antiquity,  ot 
genealogy,  since  we  have  proved  that  they  all  of  them  are  nothing  more 
than  the  Osiris,  the  Isis,  and  the  Horus  of  Egypt  ;  that  is,  the  three 
principal  keys  of  the  ancient  writing,  or  the  simbols  of  the  solar,  the 
civil,  and  the  rural  year. 

We  know  a  fourth  key,  viz.  the  Thot  or  Taaut,  that  is  the  dog. 
Thence  again  springs  a  multitude  of  kings  and  gods,  of  whom  we  shall 
in  few  words  find  out  and  explain  the  names,  ranks,  and  imployments. 

The  Egyptians  in  after-times,  no  doubt,  made  him  one  of  their  kings, 
who  had  been  transported  into  this  fine  star.  They  give  him  as  the 
son  of  Menes,  and  the  grandson  of  Osiris,  and  ascribe  the  invention  of 
the  symbolical  characters  to  him.  They  say,  that  he  was  the  counsel- 
lor of  Menes,  whom  he  assisted  in  the  regulation  of  their  feasts.  But 
this  fine  story  had  no  other  foundation  than  the  report  that  went  among 
the  Egyptians  of  old,  that  Thot  introduced  the  Manes,  and  renewed  the 
proclamations.  And  indeed  he  opened  the  year,  since  that  always 
began  at  the  rising  of  the  dog-star  ;  whence  the  first  of  their  months 
had  the  name  of  Thot.  It  was  out  of  mere  superstition,  that  the  Egj^-p- 
tians  forbore  calculating  exactly  the  sacred  or  civil  year,  when  they 
began  to  know  that  besides  the  365  days,  there  remained  a  quarter  of  a 
day  to  be  added  to  complete  the  revolution  of  a  year.  Four  quarters  of 
a  day  overlooked,  made  a  whole  day  in  four  years'  time  ;  and  neglec- 
ing  to  intercalate  that  day  at  the  four  years'  end,  and  to  reckon  366, 
instead  of  365,  their  civil  year  on  this  account  began  one  day  too  soon, 
and  by  retrogradation  difi^ered  a  whole  day  from  the  calculation  of  the  nat- 
ural year.  The  beginning  of  the  sacred  year  went  successively  therefore 
through  every  one  of  the  days  of  the  natural  year  in  the  space  of  365 
times  four  years,  which  make  1460  years.  They  fancied  they  blessed 
and  made  all  the  seasons  to  prosper,  by  making  them  tljus  enjoy  one 
after  another  the  feast  of  Isis,  which  was  celebrated  along  with  that  of 
the  dog-star  ;  though  it  was  frequently  very  remote  from  that  constel- 
lation :  and  it  was  in  consequence  of  the  ancient  custom  of  celebrating 
the  feast  of  Isis,  or  the  renewal  of  the  year  at  the  exact  rising  of  the  dog 
star,  that  they  afterwards,  in  whatever  season  that  feast  might  fall,  to  be 
sure,  introduced,  not  only  the  figure  of  a  dog,  but  even  real  and  live  dogs, 
which  always  preceded  the  chariot  of  Isis  (Diod,  I.  1.) ;  a  circumstance 
which  I  beg  my  reader  to  take  a  particular  notice  of  Thus  in  after- 
times  they  took  a  special  pleasure  in  introducing  a  marvellous  and 
mysterious  air  into  every  thing.  The  calculation  just  mentioned,  and 
many  others  which  they  had  received  from  the  priests  their  predeces- 


48  DOGMAS    AND    CUSTOMS    OF 

sors,  were  things  of  the  utmost  plainness.  They,  in  process  of  time, 
mistook  them  for  the  durations  of  the  several  kings  whom  they  quar- 
tered in  the  dog-star  and  other  celestial  bodies.  One  had  lived  1460 
years  ;  another  had  reigned  so  many  thousands  of  years  together. 
The  astronomical  observations  grounded  on  several  suppositions  and 
combinations  of  the  stars,  were  one  of  the  chief  imployments  •  of  the 
priests.  These  calculations  found  in  the  registers  of  the  most  laborious 
among  the  learned,  being  always  joined  with  names  of  men,  such  as 
Anubis,  Thot,  Menea,  Osiris,  and  others  whom  they  lodged  in  the  stars, 
passed  for  the  term  of  the  terrestrial  life  of  these  gods.  Such  is  indeed 
the  true  origin  of  that  antiquity  of  the  Egyptian  history,  which  they 
trace  back  so  very  high.  Their  ancient  kings  are  nothing  more  than 
the  names  of  the  stars  ;  and  the  pretended  duration  of  their  lives,  is  only 
a  supputation  of  the  time  necessary  to  bring  again  a  planet  to  that  point 
of  the  heavens  from  which  it  had  begun  its  course.  Thus  they  made 
as  wrong  a  use  of  their  astronomical  computations  as  they  had  done  of 
their  writing. 

Let  us  not,  in  mentioning  the  retrogradation  of  the  feast  of  Isis  and 
the  return  of  that  feast  at  the  rising  of  the  dog-star  at  1460  years'  end, 
omit  one  observation,  wz.  that  they  looked  upon  the  1461st  year  as 
privileged,  as  a  year  oifhnty  and  delights.  It  was  because  this  so 
important  an  event,  according  to  them,  concurred  with  the  desired 
Etesian  wind,  that  they  expressed  the  whole  by  a  bird  of  singular 
beauty,  that  raised  admiration  more  than  any  of  the  rest,  and  returned 
to  Egypt  after  an  absence  of  1460  years,  {Tacit,  Annal,  6.)  They 
farther  said,  that  this  bird  came  thither  to  die  upon  the  altar  of  the  sun» 
and  that  out  of  its  ashes  there  rose  a  little  worm,  that  gave  birth  to  a 
bird  perfectly  like  the  preceding.  They  called  it  Phoenix,  which  sig- 
nifies the  advantage  they  pretended  was  annexed  to  the  concurrence  of 
the  opening  of  the   year  with  the  real  rising  of  the  dog-star  ;  I  mean 

the  most  delightful  plenty  ( phonek,  deliciis  abundaiis.  Prov.  26; 

21.)  We  then  have  here  again  another  emblematic  figure  converted 
into  a  wonder  Avhich  it  would  have  been  a  crime  to  doubt  of* 

The  dog-star  has  already  afforded  us  two  deities,  one  residing  in  the 
fine  star  near  Cancer,  under  the  name  of  Thot  or  of  Anubis,  and  very 
well  employed  in  swelling  and  sinking  the  river  Nile,  the  other  wholly 
intent  upon  physic,  and  entirely  taken  up  with  the  care  of  people's 

*  Bailey  observes,  that  "a  PhcEnix,  hierofflyphically,  was  pictured  lo  signify  a 
reformation  ;"  which  corroborates  our  author  s  hypothesis,  for  there  was  a  complete 
reformation  of  the  calendar,  according  to  the  Egyptian  calculation,  at  the  end  of  the 
above  mentioned  period. — Edit. 


THE    ANCIENT    EGYPTIANS.  4^ 

health  under  the  name  of  iEsculapius.  Next  to  Anubis  and  iEscula- 
pius,  let  us  now  see  the  Camillus  of  the  Heturians,  the  Janus  of  the 
Latins,  the  Hermes  of  the  Greeks,  and  the  Mercury  of  the  Phenicians, 
all  of  them  rising  out  of  the  same  figure.  The  observation  of  the  dog- 
star  was  not  only  justly  denoted  by  the  figure  of  a  serpent,  the  symbol 
of  the  life  it  had  procured  the  Egyptians,  but  having  besides  procured 
them  abundance  or  rather  a  superabundance  of  corn,  which  enabled 
them  to  help  foreigners  and  to  enrich  themselves  by  the  selling  of  their 
commodities,  the  figure  of  Anubis  was  often  accompanied  by  a  full  purse 
the  sight  whereof  filled  the  people  with  joy  ;  and  this  procured  it  the 
new  title  of  Mercury,  which  signifies  the  dealer,  or  the  intriguing^  the 
cunning,  or  only  commerce. 

A  new  proof  that  Mercury  was  no  more  than  a  symbol  of  the  dog. 
star  or  of  the  warning  of  the  retreat,  and  not  a  man  that  ever  taught  or 
invented  any  thing,  is,  that  they  put  into  his  hand  the  mark  of  the  swell- 
ing of  the  Nile,  and  at  his  feet  the  wings,  intimating  the  necessity  of 
escaping  the  inundation  by  a  speedy  flight. 

The  mark  of  the  rising  of  the  water  was  a  pole  crossed  ;  a  very 
plain  symbol  indeed  ;  and  the  serpent  twisted  round  it  had,  in  the  hand 
of  this  figure,  no  other  meaning  than  elsewhere.  It  always  signified 
the  life,  the  subsistance.  When  double,  it  denoted  subsistance  in  very 
great  plenty,  and  such  as  was  sufficient  both  for  the  Egyptians  and  for- 
eigners. This  pole  was  terminated  with  two  little  wings ;  the  symbol 
of  the  wind  that  regulated  the  increase  of  the  waters.  All  which  signifi- 
cations were  forgoten,  and  the  monitor  becoming  a  god  as  well  as  the 
other  figures,  they  changed  his  name  of  Anubis,  the  barker,  into  that  of 
Hannadi,  the  orator.  (Hannobeah,  Isai.  Ivi.  10.)  His  gesture  and  th6 
stick  he  had  in  his  hand  helped  on  this  metamorphosis.  It  was  taken- 
for  the  mark  of  a  leader,  an  embassador.  Hence  the  title  of  guide,  of 
inspector  of  the  roads,  of  messenger  of  good  news,  and  so  many  the 
like  that  were  given  Mercury,  and  of  which  we  find  a  collection  in 
Geraldi's  history  of  the  gods.  Hence  came  the  roads  under  his  pro- 
tection, and  of  placing  his  statue  at  the  entrance  of  the  highways. 
But  what  can  be  the  origin  of  the  name  of  Caduceus  given  to  Mer- 
cury's rod  ? 

In  the  East,  any  person  preferred  to  honors  bore  a  sceptre*  or  staff 

*  The  proof  of  this  is  frequently  met  with  in  Scripture.  When  the  tribes  murmured 
at  seeing  the  priesthood  settled  in  the  family  of  Aaron,  the  chiefs  of  the  tribes  received 
orders  to  bring  their  scepters  into  the  tabernacle.  The  scepter  of  Levi  borne  by  Aaron 
was  found  in  bloom  the  next  day ;  and  the  Scripture  observes,  that  the  other  chiefs 
took  back  their  scepters  or  staves  of  command. 

7 


50  DOGMAS    AND    CUSTOMS    OF 

of  honor,  and  sometimes  a  plate  of  gold  on  the  forehead  called  cadosh 

or  caduceus,  *  signifying  a  sacred  person,  ( cadosh  sanctus,  separa- 

ius.)  to  inform  the  people  that  he  who  bore  this  rod  or  mark  was 
a  public  man,  who  might  go  hither  and  thither  freely,  and  whose  per- 
son was  inviolable.     Such  is  the  origin  of  the  name  given  to  Mercury's 

wand.      Thus  they  made  the  guide  of  tiavelers,  the  interpreter,  ( 

inierpres,  nuncius  soxer,)  and  deputy  of  the  gods,  of  a  figure  whose 
office  they  confusedly  knew  was  to  warn  people  of  being  gone.  Being 
wholly  ignorant  of  the  relation  between  this  long  measure  and  the  Nile, 
it  was  every  where  converted  into  an  embassador's  staffi  that  there 
might  be  some  connexion  between  the  envoy  and  the  wand  he 
carried. 

Instead  of  the  measure  of  the  Nile,  they  very  often  put  into  his  hand  a 
key,  and  gave  him  two  faces,  one  of  a  young  man,  the  other  of  a  man 
in  years  ;  incompassing  the  w^hole  with  a  serpent  having  his  tail  in  his 
mouth.  The  serpent  symbol  of  life  or  of  time,  here  signifies  the  year 
that  makes  a  perpetual  circle,  and  the  revolution  of  the  stars  coming 
again  to  the  point  of  the  heavens  from  which  they  began  their  course 
the  year  before.  Our  door-keeper  who  here  shuts  up  the  concluding 
year,  and  opens  the  new,  is  no  other  than  the  dog-star,  whose  rising  or 
disengaging  from  the  rays  of  the  sun  pointed  out  the  new  solar  year. 
I  say  solar,  or  natural,  because  it  happened  for  reasons  before  stated, 
that  the  beginning  of  the  sacred  year  went  through  every  one  of  the 
seasons.  But  they  still  observed  the  custom  of  making  the  god  Anubis 
who  was  the  door-keeper  of  the  feasts,  to  precede  the  pomp  of  Isis^ 
which  was  the  first  feast  of  the  year  ;  whence  it  appears,  that  the  whole 
w£is  rather  astronomical  than  historical.  This  undoubtedly  is  the  Janus 
of  the  Latins,  who  had  the  same  attributes  with  the  name  of  door-keeper 
His  ordinary  companion  good  king  Picus,  with  his  hawk's  head,  has 

♦  A  similar  plate  decorated  the  chief  priest  of  the  Israelites.  '  The  high-priest  wore 
a  plate  of  gold  upon  his  forehead,  on  which  were  en^aven  these  two  words  Kodesch 
layhovah,  that  is  Holy  to  the  Lord.  It  was  tied  with  a  purple  or  blue  ribbon  to  his 
tiara,  which  was  made  of  linen,  like  those  of  the  other  priests,  and  was  only  distin- 
guished from  them  by  this  plate  and  ribbon.  There  was  in  every  synnagogue  a  sort  of 
minister,  who  read  the  prayers,  directed  the  reading  of  the  law,  and  preached,  he  was 
called  chazan,  that  is,  inspector  or  bishop.     See  Dr.  A.  Clark's  Hist,  Israel  p.  286-7. 

There  is  a  degree  in  masonry  called  "  a  chapter  of  the  grand  Inspectors  of  lodges,  or 
grand  elected  knights  of  Kadosh  T  who  seem  to  have  borrowed  their  title  and  func- 
tions, as  Inspectors,  from  those  of  the  Egyptian  Mercury.  The  badge  borne  by  Mercury 
appears  to  be  alluded  to  by  the  manner  of  answeringthe  question,  "  Are  you  Kadosh  ?"  upon 
which  the  person  questioned  places  his  hand  upon  his  forehead,  and  says,  "  yes,  I  am." 
The  sacred  words  are  Nekam  Adonai  ;  which  probably  have  the  same  signification  as  the 
words  engraved  on  the  plate  worn  by  the  Jewish  high  priest ;  Adonai  or  Adonis  mean- 
ing lord.— This  degree  will  hereafter  be  particularly  noticed. 

The  miter  worn  by  the  high  priest  of  masonry,  m  the  royal  arch  degree,  is  surroun- 
d«d  with  the  words  holinett  to  the  lord. — Edit. 


THE    ANCIENT     EGYPTIANS.  "  51 

SO  much  the  air  of  an  Egyptian,  that  we  cannot  doubt  but  that  Egypt 
not  Latium,  was  the  country  of  both. 

Anubis  considered  as  a  symbol,  was  in  reality  the  rule  of  the  feasts, 
and  the  introducer  of  all  the  symbolical  figures  that  were  successively 
shown  to  the  people  during  the  whole  year.  When  a  god,  he  was 
made  inventor  and  regulator  of  these  feasts.  Now  these  solemnities 
were  called  the  manes,  that  is,  the  regulations,  the  signs,  the  ensigns , 
because  the  figures  there  presented  to  the  assistants  were  originally 
designed  to  regulate  the  works  of  the  people.  This  they  made  the 
noblest  function  of  Anubis ;  and  it  was  with  regard  to  this  frivolous 
opinion,  that  the  pomp  of  Isis  was  always  preceded  by  a  dog.  But  the 
neomeniae  of  each  season,  and  the  particular  feasts  that  went  before  or 
that  followed  each  harvest  having  peculiar  names  that  distinguished 
them,  the  general  word  of  manes,  ensigns  or  images,  was  still  the  name 
of  the  funeral  assemblies,  which  were  frequently  repeated.and  the  names 
of  manes,  images  simaulcres,  and  dead  persons  were  confounded.   Thus 

Mercury,  who  opened  and  shut  the  manes,( ,  manium  dux,  ductor 

animarum,)  became  the  leader  of  the  dead.  He  conducted  the  souls  with 
a  high  hand.  Theking  or  the  shepherd  must  indiscriminately  fol- 
low the  troop.  He  opened  the  melancholly  abodes  to  them,  shut  these  ^ 
again  without  remorse,  and  took  away  the  key,  not  permitting  any 
one  to  escape.  {Turn  virgam  capit.  Hac  animas  ille  evocat  orco.) 
This  again  is  what  the  Phenicians  and  the  Arcadians  meant,  when 
they  called  himCyllenius,  a  word  which  signifies  the  shutting  or  one 
that  concludes  the  year,  and  who  finishes  for  ever  the  duration  of  life. 
The  people  were  persuaded,  that  he  invented  music,  the  lyre,  wrest- 
ling, and  all  the  exercises  that  form  the  body  because  all  these  things 
being  inseperably  annexed  to  the  ancient  feasts,  he  was  thought  the 
regulator  of  them  as  well  as  of  the  feasts,  he  of  course  introduced 
every  thing  belonging  to  them. 

As  to  the  genealogy  of  Mercury,  it  confirms  all  we  have  said.  He 
is  the  son  of  fair  Maia,  and  grandson  of  Atlas.  Maia  is  the  Pleias  or 
the  cluster  of  stars  known  even  by  the  vulgar,  and  placed  on  the  back 
of  the  bull.  The  eastern  nations  called  these  stars  Maeah,  which  sig- 
nifies the  hundred,  the  multitude.  The  Greeks  sometimes  retained 
their  first  name,  and  called  them  Maia  ;  sometimes  translated  this 
word  by  those  of  Pleiades  and  Pleione,  which  likewise  signify  the 
multitude.  These  so  very  remarkable  stars  being  most  fit  to  regulate 
the  study  of  the  heavens,  and  being  the  first* that  struck  the  eye  before 
the  rising  of  the  dog-star,  of  which  they  thus  became  the  forerunners  j 


j5^  DOGMAS    AND    CUSTOMS    OF 

thejr,  together  with  the  Hyades,  were  the  first  in  the  knowledge  of 
which  the  Egyptian  priests  took  care  to  instruct  their  young  pupils,  in 
the  sphere  of  Atlas.  This  symbol  being  once  become  a  god,  all  his 
instructions  were  embellished  with  histories  as  well  as  he.  The  stars, 
that  served  as  a  rule  to  know  the  others  by,  became  the  beloved  daugh- 
ters of  doctor  Atlas.  Maia  disengaged  herself  at  that  time  from  the 
rays  of  the  sun  in  Gemini,  that  is,  in  the  month  of  May,  to  which  she 
seems  to  have  given  her  name.  The  finest  star  that  clears  itself  a  month 
or  somewhat  more  afler  from  the  rays  of  the  sun,  is  the  dog-star  or  the 
Anubis,  of  which  they  were  pleased  to  make  Maia  the  mother,  because 
the  star  of  Anubis  was  the  first  that  succeeded  her. 

D(Bdalus. 

It  was  the  custom  in  Egypt  to  say,  when  the  dog-star  or  Anubis 
was  represented  with  large  hawk's  wings,  that  the  water  would  be  of  a 
sufficient  height,  and  there  would  be  a  certainty  of  a  plentiful  har- 
vest. On  this  occasion  Anubis  was  called  Doedalus,  which  signifies  a 
sufficient  height,  or  a  sufficient  depth. 

All  the  ancients  agree  that  Doedalus  was  an  ingenius  architect. 
They  ascribe  to  him  the  invention  of  the  compasses  and  the  square. 
They  farther  add,  that  to  him  mankind  is  indebted  for  statuary  ;  they 
even  characterize  the  nature  of  the  progress  which  this  noble  art  made 
under  him,  by  circumstances  which  render  the  thing  very  credible. 
Before  Dcedalus,  and  to  his  very  time,  according  to  Diodorus  Siculus. 
"  Statues  had  their  eyes  shut,  and  their  hands  close  to  their  sides.  But 
Dosdalus  taught  men  how  to  give  them  eyes,  to  separate  their  legs,  and 
to  clear  their  hands  from  their  body.  Which  procured  him  the  general 
admiration." 

But  by  misfortune,  both  the  history  and  the  statues  with  their  feet 
united,  become  the  proof  of  the  origin  I  here  assign  to  Doedalus.  The 
compasses  and  square,  of  which  he  is  made  the  inventor,  are  no  other 
than  the  compasses  and  square  that  were  put  into  the  hands  of  Anubis 
or  Horus,  to  warn  the  husbandmen  to  be  in  readiness  to  measure  their 
lands,  to  take  angles  in  order  to  distinguish  them  from  the  lands  of 
others.  Thus  he  was  made  the  inventor  of  the  symbolical  instruments 
they  saw  in  his  hands.  The  statues  whose  hands  and  feet  are  frequently 
swathed,  and  which  are  found  in  the  cabinets  of  our  virtuous,  are  no 
other  than  the  statutes  of  Osiris,  Isis,  and  Horus,  such  as  they  were 
presented  to  the  people  at  the  time  of  the  inundation.  There  was 
nothing  then  to  be  done,  and  the  inaction  was  universal.      The  intire 


THE    ANCIENT    EGYPTIANS.  53 

cessation  of  the  rural  works  could  not  be  better  intimated,  than  by  a 
Horus  swathed  or  deprived  of  the  use  of  his  feet  by  the  inundation,  and 
using  only  his  arms  to  point  out  the  measure  of  the  water,  a  vane  to 
shew  the  wind,  another  instrument  to  take  angles,  and  a  horn  to  pro- 
claim the  general  surveying. 

The  Cabiri  of  Samothracia. 

The  three  principal  figures  of  the  Egyptian  ceremonial  were  carried 
to  Berytus  in  Phenicia,  and  thence  into  several  Islands  of  the  iEgean  sea. 
Their  worship  became  very  famous,  especially  in  Lemnos,  and  in 
the  island  of  Samothracia,  which  lies  very  near  it.     They  were  called 

there  the  Cabiri,  (— cabirim,  potentes,)  meaning  the  powerful 

gods:  and  their  name  of  Cabiri,  which  is  Phenician,  was  as  much 
used  in  Egypt  as  in  Phenicia  itself:  which  is  a  standing  proof  of  the 
mixture  of  the  Phenician  terms  with  the  Egyptian  language,  if  the 
ground  of  both  be  not  exactly  the  same. 

The  figures  of  these  gods  being  originally  designed  to  make  up  a 
certain  sense,  by  a  collection  of  several  pieces  that  very  seldom  meet 
together,  could  not  but  have  a  very  odd,  if  not  a  very  ridiculous  air  in 
the  eyes  of  such  as  did  not  understand  their  meaning.  The  foliages, 
horns,  wings,  and  spheres,  so  commonly  found  on  the  heads  of  Osiris, 
Isis  and  Horus,  could  not  but  amaze  or  raise  the  laughter  of  such  as 
were  not  accustomed  to  them.  Herodotus  observes,  that  the  Cabiri, 
as  well  as  the  same  figure  of  Vulcan,  were  the  diversion  of  Cambyses, 
when  he  entered  their  temple  and  that  of  the  forging  deity. 

They  often  add  to  these  a  fourth  god,  whom  they  sometimes  call 
Mercury,  sometimes  Camilus  or  Casmilus,  which  among  the  Heturians 
and  in  Latium  signified  a  minister  or  a  messenger.  In  all  which  it  is 
plain,  that  we  again  meet  with  the  four  principal  keys  of  the  ancient 
Egyptian  writing,  changed  on  account  of  their  human  figure  into  so 
many  tutelar  and  powerful  gods. 


The  names  of  the  Cabiri,  with  their  significations,  are  thus  given  in  Anthon's  Class. 
Diet. :— "  Axieros  is  said  to  have  signified  in  Egyptian,  the  all  powerful  one ;— Axiokersos 
is  made  to  denote  the  great  fecundator ;— Axeokersa  is  consequently  the  great  fecun- 
datrix ;  and  Casmilus  he  who  stands  before  the  deity,  or  he  who  b^wlds  the  face  of  the 
deity." 

The  first  answers  to  the  Supreme  Intelligence;  the  second  to  Osiris  the  sun;  the 
third  to  Isis ;  and  the  fourth  to  Anubis. 


54  DOGMAS  AND   CUSTOMS   OF 

Apollo,  the  Muses,  and  the  Graces. 

Notwithstanding  the  variety  which  the  caprice  of  private  men  and 
the  difference  of  tastes  have  introduced  into  the  Egyptian  ceremonial, 
and  among  the  signs  that  served  to  proclaim  whatever  was  of  concern 
to  the  public,  we  find  every  where  the  same  grounds,  because  the  wants 
of  all  men  were  the  same,  and  their  practices  were  founded  on  these 
wants.  After  the  sense  of  those  emblems  had  been  so  far  perverted  as 
to  change  the  significant  figures  into  so  many  deities  solely  taken  up 
with  the  care  of  supplying  all  the  w^ants  of  the  Egyptians,  or  of  inform- 
ing them  of  all  their  concerns  ;  each  province  paid  special  worship  to 
one  or  the  other  of  the  figures.  For  instance,  in  some  places  they 
honored  Apollo  holding  in  his  hand  a  lyre.  This  so  very  plain  a 
symbol  of  the  feasts,  having  been  taken  for  a  deity  presiding  over  har- 
mony,* the  other  figures  which  attended  him  to  denote  the  several  cir- 
cumstances of  each  season,  were  taken  in  a  sense  agreeable  to  the 
notion  they  had  framed  to  themselves  of  Apollo.  The  nine  Isises  which 
proclaimed  the  neomenisB,  or  the  first  days  of  every  one  of  the  nine 
months,  during  which  Egypt  is  freed  from  the  inundation,  bore  in 
their  hands  symbols  peculiar  or  suitable  to  each  of  these  months;  as 
for  instance,  a  pair  of  compasses,  a  flute,  a  trumpet,  a  mask,  or  some 
other  attribute,  to  denote  the  feast  that  preceded  the  surveying  of  the 
lands  that  had  been  overflowed,  or  some  other  solemnity.  All  these 
figures  in  reality  informed  men  of  what  they  were  to  do.  They  had  a 
general  confused  remembrance  that  these  were  their  functions.  But 
being  once  become  goddesses,  people  imagined  that  they  had  the  super- 
intendance  of  music,  geometry,  astronomy,  and  of  all  sciences.  They 
were  united  in  a  chorus  to  the  musician  Apollo;  and  instead  of  seeing 
in  the  instruments  they  bore  the  peculiar  characters  of  the  feasts  and 
works  of  each  month,  men  took  them  for  the  specific  marks  of  all  fine 
and  delicate  arts,  and  even  helped  on  this  fancy,  by  adding  a  part  of 
the  emblems.     They  were  called  in  Egypt  the  Nine  Muses :  which 


♦  The  author,  it  seems,  was  not  sensible  of  the  propriety  of  this  title  ;ibut  none  could 
be  more  appropriate  for  the  inhabitants  of  the  northern  climates  to  bestow  upon  Apollo, 
the  sun  of  the  upper  hemisphere.  Dupuis,  as  before  noticed,  has  well  described  the 
complaints  that  would  naturally  occur,  in  consequence  of  the  absence  of  the  sun  in  the 
winter  season  :  What  has  become  of  the  happy  temperature  which  the  earth  enjoyed 
in  the  summer  ?  that  harmony  of  the  elements  which  accorded  with  that  of  the  heavens  1 
that  richness,  that  beauty  of  our  fields,"  etc. 

Apollo  restored  this  nappy  state  of  things,  and  might,  therefore,  very  properly  be 
styled  a  deity  presiding  over  harmony.  "  The  god  of  the  sim  became  also  the  god  of 
music  by  a  natural  allusion  to  the  movements  of  the  planets  and  the  mysterious  har- 
mony of  the  spheres."    (Anthon's  Class.  Did.)— Edit. 


THE   ANCIENT   EGYPTIANS.  5g 

signifies  the  nine  months  rescued  from  the  waters,  or  delivered  from 
the  inundation :  an  etymology  whose  exactness  is  demonstrated  in  the 
name  of  Moses,  or  Mose,  which  signifies  saved  from  the  waters,  disin- 
gaged,  freed  from  the  waters.  Such  was  the  common  name  they 
always  retained.  But  the  Greeks,  among  whom  this  chorus  of  deities 
was  introduced,  gave  each  of  them  a  proper  name.  Those  names  if 
they  are  taken  out  of  their  language,  conformably  to  the  ridiculous 
notions  they  entertained  of  these  figures,  are  no  manner  of  information  to 
us,  and  are  not  worth  our  translating.  Near  the  nine  Isises  that 
denoted  the  nine  months  in  which  people  might  go  up  and  down,  and 
act  at  liberty,  appeared  also  the  three  Isises,  that  represented  the  three 
months  during  which  the  water  remained  on  the  plains,  and  hindered 
the  free  correspondence  of  one  city  with  another.  They  were  drawn 
sometimes  in  swathings,  and  incapable  of  making  any  use  either  of 
their  feet  or  arms  ;  sometimes  half  women  and  half  lizards,  or  half 
fishes ;  because  men  must  then  remain  on  the  land  by  the  water-side. 
In  fine,  (and  this  last  form  was  more  to  the  liking  of  the  Greeks,)  they 
were  represented  as  three  idle  sisters,  without  any  attribute,  holding 
one  another  by  the  hand  ;  because  they  denoted  the  inaction  of  the  three 
months  of  inundation,  that  succeeded  each  other  without  interruption, 
^nd  as  these  three  months  broke  off'  the  ordinary  correspondence  of 
one  city  with  another,  at  a  time  when  they  had  not  as  yet  raised  the, 
magnificent  causeways  that  have  since  been  made ;  the  three  Isises 
proclaiming  the  neomeniae,  of  these  months  of  total  separation,  were 
called  Cheritout*  that  is,  the  divorce,  the  time  of  the  separation. 
This  word  had  a  relation  of  sound  with  the  word  eharites,  which 
in  Greek  signifies  sometimes  the  thanksgivings,  sometimes  the  favours, 
or  a  courteous  behaviour.  Which  gave  occasion  to  the  Greek  poets 
to  imagine,  that  these  three  goddesses  presided  over  gratitude  and  out- 
ward charms. 

Notwithstanding  all  the  care  every  city  had  taken  in  the  month  of 
June  to  supply  itself  with  necessary  provisions,  they  could  not  on  many 
occasions  do  without  the  assistance  of  each  other,  and  they  had  recourse 
to  the  conveniency  of  barks  and  sails.  The  bark  with  its  sail  was 
represented  in  Egypt  and  Phenicia  under  a  figure  of  a  winged  steed. 
On  this  account  it  was  that  the  people  of  Cadis,  who  were  originally 
of  Phenician  extraction,  anciently  gave  a  ship,  whether  large  or  small. 


*  From charat.  abscindere,  comes cheritout  repudium,scissio,  the  inter- 
ruption of  commerce.    See  the  word  Cheritout.    Isai.  60  :  1.  &Deut.  24:  1. 


56  DOGMAS  AND  CUSTOMS  OF 

the  name  of  a  horse  ;*  and  speaking  of  their  barks,  they  called  them  their 
horses.  What  can  be  then  the  meaning  of  Pegassus,  or  the  winged  horse 
set  by  the  side  of  the  three  Graces  and  the  nine  Muses  ?  If  these  god- 
desses preside  over  gratitude  and  the  sciences,  our  wins^ed  horse  becomes 
unintelligible.  But  if  our  Charites  are  the  three  months  of  separation, 
or  the  interruption  of  the  free  correspondence  of  one  city  with  another, 
in  this  case  indeed  Pegassus  comes  to  our  assistance ;  and  if  the  nine 
Muses  are  the  nine  figures  that  publish  what  is  to  be  done  during  the 
nine  months  in  which  Egypt  is  freed  from  the  waters,  then  indeed  the 
winged  horse,  that  is,  the  boat,  becomes  a  symbol  of  the  end  of  naviga- 
tion, and  of  the  return  of  the  rural  works.  They  therefore  gave  this 
figure  the  name  of  Pegassus,  which  signifies  the  end  of  navigation,^ 
according  to  the  style  of  the  Phenician  people  testified  by  Stabro,  the 
convenie7icy  of  navigation. 

An  Egyptian  or  Phenician  colony,  that  had  all  these  figures  in  the 
ceremonial  of  its  religion,  brought  them  along  with  it  to  Phocis  in  the 
neighborhood  of  Mount  Parnassus  and  of  Delphos.  They  had  for  cer- 
tain no  meaning  there,  being  no  way  related  to  any  thing  belonging  to 
that  country.  But  they  had  been  long  honored,  together  with  their 
president  Apollo,  as  so  many  bountiful  deities:  which  was  sufficient  to 
perpetuate  the  use  of  these  figures,  and  of  the  pretty  stories  which  had 
been  devised  to  account  for  all. 

It  will  not  be  improper,  in  order  to  strengthen  what  has  been  said, 
to  observe,  that  in  the  ancient  figures  the  three  Graces  are  often  seen 
under  the  conduct  of  Mercury,  because  the  rising  of  the  dog-star  in 
Egypt  is  succeeded  by  the  three  months  of  inundation ;  and  the 
nine  Muses  under  the  conduct  of  Apollo,  because  Horus,  or  working, 
makes  its  use  and  benefit  of  the  nine  following  months. 

But  why  did  this  Apollo  pronounce  oracles,  and  foretel  future  events  ? 
This  was  its  first  destination  and  appointment.  Horus  served  only  to 
inform  people  by  his  attributes,  of  what  was  to  be  done  or  expected  ac- 
cording to  the  winds  and  years.  People  never  forgot,  that  these  figures 
were  the  signs  and  regulaitons  that  guided  the  works  of  man:  but  when 
they  were  once  made  gods ;  instead  of  lookng  upon  them  as  convenient 
indications  and  tokens,  whereby  persons  of  great  experience  regulated 

*  Gaditarorum  mercatores  ingentibus  utinavibvSf  pauper esparviSf  guas  eqruos  appel- 
lent.     Strab.  geograph.  1.  2.  p.  99.  edit.  Reg. 

tFrom  — pag,  cessat,  otiatur  ;  and  from sus,  cursory  navis,  come* pegasus. 

navigationis  intermissio.  The  head  of  a  steed  put  on  the  shoulders  of  Isis,  {Pausan, 
in  Arcad.)  with  a  fish  in  one  hand  and  doves  in  the  other,  was  evidently  the  procltima- 
tion  of  a  feast  that  opened  the  navigation,  when  the  sun  left  the  sign  Pices,  and  brought 
on  the  Zephyrs,  the  gentleness  of  which  was  denoted  by  the  dove. 


THE    ANCIENT    EGYPTIANS.  67 

the  works  of  the  people,  and  beforehand  pointed  out  to  them  what  was 
to  be  don€  from  one  month  to  another,  they  fancied  that  these  figures 
were  acquainted  with  future  events,  and  gave  informations  about  them.* 


The  author,  it  appears  to  me,  is  here  in  error.  Apollo  was  a  god,  the  sun,  before 
the  invention  of  the  symbols  that  indicated  his  movements  in  the  heavens,  and  the 
state  of  the  seasons,  which  regulated  the  labors  of  man.  Nor  do  I  perceive  the  pro- 
priety of  naming  these  symbols  Horus,  or  Apollo,  any  other  appelation  would  answer 
equally  well.  When  Appollo  had  become  personified  by  means  of  the  popular  religion 
that  governed  the  opinions  of  men  at  the  time,  he  then,  "  Instead  of  being  the  god 
from  whom  eminate  fecundity  and  inciease,  is  a  simple  shepherd,  conducting  the  herds 
of  another.  Instead  of  dying  and  arising  again  to  life,  he  is  ever  young.  Instead  of 
scorching  the  earth  and  its  inhabitants  with  his  devouring  rays,  he  darts  his  fearful 
arrows  from  his  quiver  of  gold.  Instead  of  announcing  the  future  in  the  mysterious 
language  of  the  planets,  he  prophesies  in  his  own  name.  Nor  does  he  any  longer 
direct  the  harmony  of  the  spheres  by  the  notes  of  his  mystic  lyre,  he  has  now  an 
instrument,  invented  by  Mercury  and  perfected  by  himself.  The  dances  too  of  the  stars 
cease  to  beconducted  by  him  ;  for  he  now  moves  at  the  head  of  the  nine  muses,  the 
strings  of  his  divine  cithara,  the  divinities  who  preside  each  over  one  of  the  liberal 
arts."    (Constant,  de  la  Religion.— Anthon's  Class.  Diet.) 

Nyobe. 

Niobe,  the  poets  say,  proud  of  her  own  fruitfulness  insulted  Latona, 
but  Appollo  punished  her  by  slaying  her  fourteen  children  with  his 
arrows.  She  never  could  be  comforted  ;  and  the  gods  out  of  compas- 
is  on  changed  her  into  a  rock.  Latona  or  the  lizard,  or  the  figure  which 
is  half  woman  and  half  lizard,  signifies  the  retreat  of  the  Egyptians  to 
the  higher  grounds.! 

Nyobe  signifies  the  sojourn  of  the  enemy,  or  of  the  river  overflow- 
ing the  plain.     From nuah,  habitares  to  sojourn  ;  and  from  — ob, 

exundation,  tumor,  comes Nyob,  mora  exundationis." 

The  insult  Nyobe  gives  Latona  is  the  necessity  she  lays  the  Egyp- 
tians under  of  flying  like  amphibious  animals,  to  terraces  surrounded 
with  water.  The  fourteen  children  o{  Nyobe,  are  the  fourteen  cubits 
that  mark  the  several  increases  of  the  Nile,  (Strab.  1.    17.)      These 

*  Possibly  this  has  procured  Horus-Apollo  the  title  of  Pecan  or  Pceana,  revelutor, 
the  interpreter  of  hidden  things,  the  oracle.  It  is  the  same  name  Pharoah  gave  Joseph 
in  his  tongue.  He  called  him  (Genes.  41  :  45  ;)  tsaphat  paanach,  the  interpreter  of  sacred 
things.  These  Egyptian  words  have  a  vast  relation  with  the  two  of  the  Pheni'cian  lan- 
guage which  signify  the  same  thing,  —  to  observe,  to  perceive,  and — tsaphan  to  hide. 

t  The  figures  of  Anubis  and  Isis  are  sometimes  attended  by  a  tortoise,  a  duck,  or  an 
amphibious  lizard.  The  nature  of  these  animals  is  to  keep  within  reach  both  of  the  land 
and  water,  which  are  frequently  necessary  to  them,  and  to  get  to  higher  ground  as  the 
water  rises.  This  was  the  symbol  borne  by  the  Egyptian  Isis  at  the  approach  of  the 
overflow,  and  she  was  then  called  Leto,  or  Latona,  which  is  the  name  of  the  amphib- 
ious Uzard.  This  Isis,  having  the  head  and  shoulders  of  a  woman,  with  the  paws,  body 
and  tail  of  a  leto  or  lizard,  is  found  in  the  monuments  of  antiquity. 

8 


58  DOOMAS   AND   CUSTOMS    OF 

foTirteen  cubits  are  still  seen  represented  by  fourteen  children,  disposed 
one  above  another  upon  the  feet  and  arms  of  the  figure  of  the  Nile, 
now  standing  in  the  Tuileries. 

Niobe,  in  short,  is  changed  into  a  stone.  Here  lies  the  equivocation. 
The  sojourn  of  the  enemy  becomes  the  preservation  of  Egypt,  shelav. 
But  the  same  word,  disguised  by  a  slight  alteration  into  that  of  shelawt 
signifies  a  stone,  ( shelav,  salus, shelaw,  silex.)  Understand- 
ing no  longer  what  was  meant,  by  the  mother  of  the  fourteen  children, 
changed  into  preservation,  or  become  the  preservator  of  Egypt,  they 
metamorphosed  her  into  a  rock,  and  her  eyes  into  two  fountains,  that 
continue  to  shed  tears  for  the  death  of  her  dear  family. 


The  following  remarks  of  Mr.  Mackey  are  ingenious  and  plausi* 
ble.  If  his  derivation  of  Tantalus  be  correct,  it  completely  developes 
the  origin  of  this  celebrated  personage, 

"  Nyobe  was  the  symbol  of  the  Nile  ;  -whosefourteen  children  show  that  the  water 
of  the  Nile  rose  fourteen  ambits  above  the  land,  which  being  dried  up  by  the  rays  of  the 
8un,  it  was  said  that  AppoUo,  that  is,  the  sun,  slew  the  fourteen  children  with  his 
arrows.  Ovid  reckons  up  the  pedigree  of  Nyobe  with  much  precision,  and  tells  us  her 
father's  name  was  Tantalus. 

"  The  lower  part  of  Egypt,  that  is,  the  Delta,  was  formerly  a  gulf  of  the  sea,  which 
was  filled  up  in  the  run  of  some  thousand  ages  by  the  sediment  brought  down  by  the 
Nile  from  Ethiopia.  Nyobe  then  is  the  daughter  of  a  high  country  ;  but  Ethiopia  on 
account  of  its  being  a  high  country,  is  called  in  their  language,  Tandalus,  from  Tan 
a  country,  and  dalah  high.  Thus  Tantalus,  a  high  country,  was  the  father  of  Nyobe, 
a  low  coimtry — the  sediment  of  the  one  having  produced  the  other. 

*'  It  is  further  said,  that  Tantalus  was  punished  in  hell  with  eternal  thirst,  while  he 
stood  chin  deep  in  water.  But  do  we  not  know  that  Tandalus,  that  is,  Ethiopia  is  an 
arid  country,  notwithstanding  all  the  fertilizing  water  of  the  Nile  runs  through  it." 

Although  it  rains  in  Ethiopia  for  several  months  almost  continually,  a  portion  of  the 
year  is  said  to  be  very  dry  and  sickly. 

Argus. 

The  explication  of  the  foregoing  fable  *  assists  us  in  the  under- 
standing another,  which,  puerile  as  it  is,  has  often  exercised  the  greatest 
poets  and  the  best  painters  :  I  mean  the  fable  of  Argus. 

Juno,  provoked  at  the  conduct  of  her  husband,  took  from  him  fair 
Isis,  and  having  turned  her  into  a  heifer,  committed  her  to  the  vigilance 
of  Argus,  who  had  a  hundred  eyes,  some  of  which  were  awake,  while 
the  i;;est  slept.  But  Mercury  by  his  songs  lulled  all  the  eyes  of  the 
guardian  asleep,  and  carried  oflT  Isis.  What  can  this  tale  relate  to  ? 
If  I  am  not  mistaken,  the  origin  of  it  is  this  : 

♦  That  of  the  Argonauts,  which  is  shown  pretty  conclusively  by  Dupuis,  contrary 
to  our  author's  explication,  to  be  purely  astronomical. — Edit. 


THE    ANCIENT  EGYPTIANS.  59 

Weaving  was  famous  at  Athens,  in  the  island  Amorgos,  and  in 
Colchis,  as  well  as  in  Egypt. 

Isis,  the  symbol  offcasts,  when  she  proclaimed  the  neomeniae,  and 
other  solemnities  of  the  winter  and  the  spring,  was  attended  by  a  Horus 
fit  to  characterize  the  kind  of  work  which  was  to  last  for  six  months 
together.  This  figure  was  covered  all  over  with  eyes,  to  mark  out  the 
peculiar  kind  of  work  which  is  done  by  night ;  and  it  was  because  this 
Horus  intimated  the  necessity  of  watching  to  forward  the  making  of 
cloth,  that  he  was  called  Argus,  which  means  the  weavers  work*  The 
Isis,  after  having  quitted  the  horns,  of  the  wild  goat,  whereby  she  deno- 
ted the  winter,  assumed  during  the  whole  spring  those  of  a  heifer, 
because  it  is  properly  the  passing  of  the  sun  under  the  sign  of  the  bull, 
that  constitutes  in  the  temperate  zone  the  true  beauty  of  that  delightful 
season.  The  vernal  Isis,  the  handsome  heifer,  thus  remained  several 
months  together  under  the  eyes  of  Argus,  or  by  the  side  of  the  open- 
eyed  Horus,  till  the  latter  was  removed,  and  the  heifer  carried  away  by 
Mercury  ;  that  is,  till  the  nightly  works,  spinning  and  the  making  of 
cloth,  were  over,  by  the  rising  of  the  dog-star  or  Anubis.  The  people 
jesting  upon  these  figures,  forged  the  fable  of  Isis  changed  into  a  heifer, 
of  her  guardian  Argus,  and  of  the  notable  exploit  of  Mercury,  who  on 
this  account  was  surnamed  Argiphontes,  the  murderer  of  Argus.  We 
find  in  Pierius,  that  the  Egyptians  gave  also  the  name  of  Argus  to  the 
peacock  that  was  by  the  side  of  Juno  or  Isis  ;  and  in  the  mythologists, 
that  Juno,  after  the  death  of  Argus,  took  the  eyes  he  had  about  him, 
and  therewith  embellished  the  tail  of  the  bird  that  was  consecrated  to 
her.  This  peacock  placed  near  Isis,  is  only  an  attribute  fit  to  denote 
the  beginning  of  the  nightly  works,  by  an  agreeable  imitation  either  of 
the  starry  heaven,  or  rather  of  a  multitude  of  eyes  kept  incessantly 
open.  The  name  of  Argus,  viz.  of  weaving,  it  then  went  by,  is  a 
proof  of  this,  and  shews  the  intention  of  the  ensign. 

Circe. 

The  same  Isis  carried  into  Italy  with  her  several  attributes,  gavd 
birth  to  a  fable  of  quite  another  turn.  There  she  became  the  sorceress 
Circe,  who  with  her  wand  turned  men  into  lions,  serpents,  birds,  swine 
and  any  other  figure  she  was  pleased  to  give  them.  From  what  can 
men  imagine  stories  like  this  ?  The  mythologists  thought  she  was  an 


*         •■■'  argoth  or  argos,  opus  textrinum,  the  weavers  work.    Thence  are  derived  the 

words  — ; ergon,  opus,  and  ourgla,  generally  used  to  express  all  kinds  of  work,  thai 

of  spinning  and  making  of  cloth  being  the  most  common. 

X 


a 


"Qillt 


60  .  DOGMAS     AND    CUSTOMri    OF 

emblem  of  voluptuousness,  that  brings  men  down  to  the  condition  of 
beasts.  It  was  difficult  to  say  any  thing  more  reasonable,  when  they 
neglected  to  inquire  into  the  true  origin  of  these  fictions.  Circe  is  no 
other  than  the  Egyptian  Isis,  who  sometimes  with  a  measure  of  the 
Nile,  sometimes  with  a  weaver's  beam,  a  distaf!^  or  a  lance,  always 
appeared  with  some  distinction  in  the  public  proclamations.  She  was 
always  accompanied  with  the  figures  of  Horus  and  others,  that  varied 
from  month  to  month,  and  often  from  day  to  day.  She  was  the  princi- 
pal part  of  the  enigma,  to  which  all  the  other  enigmatic  emblems  were 
subordinate.  She  was  every  where  to  be  met  with,  and  had  always  by 
her  side  and  under  her  wand,  sometimes  a  man  with  a  dog's  head, 
sometimes  a  lion,  then  a  serpent  or  a  tortoise,  sometimes  a  whole  child, 
at  another  time  a  child's  head  upon  the  body  of  a  serpent,  and  succes- 
sively the  animals  of  the  zodiac,  and  others,  that  denoted  the  return  of 
the  different  rural  works.  In  a  word,  she  converted  all  that  were  near 
her  into  several  animals.  The  Isis  and  her  whole  attendance  was  then 
really  a  riddle  to  be  found  out,  an  emblem  to  be  explained.  But  what 
signifies  Circe  ?  Even  ^Ae  wrapper,  the  enigma,  {circ,  invohicrum.) 

Let  us  proceed- farther.  Isis  very  probably  was  not  called  Circe  on 
any  other  account  but  that  of  the  circ,  or  solar  circle  she  commonly 
wore  over  her  head.  That  circle  was  the  emblem  of  the  Supreme 
Being,  of  whom  Isis  proclaimed  the  several  feasts  But  why  was  this 
sun  called  circ,  the  enigma  ?  It  is  because  God  could  not  be  painted 
and  a  disc  was  the  enigma  of  God.  It  was  the  enigma  par  excellence 
the  circ.  The  place  in  Italy,  to  which  this  Isis  with  her  circle  over 
the  head  was  brought  and  honored  of  old,  is  still  called  Monte  Cir cello. 
To  proclaim  certain  feasts  or  sacrifices,  that  were  celebrated  perhaps 
in  tne  evening  at  the  rising  of  the  new  moon,  or  in  the  morning  at  the 
rising  of  some  star,  or  of  the  planet  Venus,  when  it  is  admirably  splen- 
did, a  little  before  the  dawning  of  Aurora,  they  put  over  the  head  of  Isis 
instead  of  the  disc  of  the  sun,  that  of  a  star,  or  of  the  known  planet,  a 
crescent,  or  a  full  moon.  These  figures,  and  the  prayers  that  were  sung 
in  the  old  language  at  the  return  of  each  feast,  made  them  imagine  that 
'Circe,  by  her  inchantments,  or  by  some  mysterious  words,  had  the  power 
of  making  the  stars  and  the  moon  come  down  upon  the  earth.  It  is 
equally  evident,  that  the  several  foliages  she  bore  in  her  hand,  or  over 
her  head  near  the  figure  of  the  moon  or  of  some  other  plannet,  made, 
the  people  say,  that  the  properties  of  these  plants  were  admirable  ;  and 
t  hat  it  was  from  a  knowledge  of  their  virtues  that  Circe  was  able  to 
nxake  both  heaven  and  earth  submit  to  her  power.     The  figure  seemed 


THE    ANCIENT    EGYPTIANS.  61 

to  intimate  this,  and  they  believed  it.  This  afterwards  became  the  priv- 
ilege of  common  witches ;  and  the  people  is  still  persuaded,  that  the 
sorceresses  at  their  pleasure  dispose  of  heat,  cold,  hail,  and  all  nature. 
This  figure  of  Circe,  which  ignorance  from  an  enigma  or  popular 
ensign  had  converted  into  a  witch  that  turns  men  into  several  animals, 
and  has  the  power  of  displacing  the  stars,  relates  very  sensibly  to  the 
enigmatic  attributes  of  Isis,  which  were  a  sun,  the  moon,  some  stars, 
certain  extraordinary  plants,  and  animals  very  often  of  a  monstrous 
kind.  The  rest  of  the  fable,  by  its  conformity  with  this  interpretation, 
completes  the  demonstration  of  its  exactness.  Circe,  or  Isis,  was  so  far 
really  the  proclamation  of  the  year,  that  she  put  on  such  clothes  and 
dresses  as  were  agreeable  to  the  four  seasons.  To  announce  the  begin- 
ing  of  spring,  that  overspread  and  enamels  the  earth  with  flowers  and 
verdure,  she  wore  carpets  of  different  colors.  To  denote  the  begin- 
ning of  summer,  which  nourishes  us,  she  bore  in  her  hand  a  basket 
and  a  loaf ;  to  proclaim  the  autumn,  she  bore  a  cup ;  and  at  the  begin- 
ing  of  winter  she  bore  a  chafing-dish,  or  a  stove  with  its  foot.  These 
four  figures  gave  birth  to  the  fable  mentioned  by  Homer,  {Odyss.  v.  350.) 
that  Circe  had  four  maids,  one  of  which  spread  the  carpets  of  several 
colors  to  recive  the  guests,  the  second  prepared  the  table,  and  put  large 
baskets  upon  it,  the  third  presented  the  cups,  and  the  fourth  kept  up  the 
fire  on  the  hearth. 

Proteus. 
Proteus  was  the  sign  denoting  the  exchange  of  the  Egyptian  pro- 
ducts for  flocks,  metals,  wine,  and  other  commodities  which  Phenician 
ships  brought  into  the  island  of  Pharos,  the  only  Egyptian  port  for- 
merly of  safe  and  easy  access.  These  vessels  there  took  in  their  pro- 
visions of  corn,  flax,  and  all  the  productions  of  Egypt.  The  annual 
return  of  those  ships  to  the  confines  of  Egypt,  was  proclaimed  by  an 
Osiris  called  Neptune:  The  Egyptians,  who  hated  the  sea,  did  not 
worship  Neptune  ;  but  they  retained  his  name,  which  signifies  the 
arrival  of  the  fleet,  and  gave  it  to  the  borders  of  Egypt  or  the  sea 
coast.  This  we  have  from  Plutarch.  Pi^teus  going  to  Pharos  to  sup- 
ply the  marine  steeds  (the  vulgar  name  for  ships  or  vessels)  with  every 
thing,  can  be  no  other  than  the  sale  the  Egyptians  went  to  make  of 
their  commodities,  on  the  arrival  of  the  Phenecian  barks.  This  is 
confirmed  by  the  name  Proteus,  which  signifies  nothing  but  the  abun- 
dance of  fruit  and  the  productions  of  the  earth.  *  From  the  name 
♦  From  ■- peri,  frxictua,  comes poret,  copia  fructuum.  Genes.  49.  22. 


62  DOGMAS    AND    CUSTOMS    OF 

Poret  or  Proteus  evidently  proceed  the  French  words  fort  and  porter 
because  the  fruits  of  the  earth  were  the  first  object  of  transportation  from 
one  coast  to  another.  The  feigning  that  Proteus,  on  his  arival  at  the 
port  of  Pharos,  assumed  many  figures,  arose  from  the  variety  of  the 
commodities  there  offered  for  sale  by  the  Egyptians. 

The  Syrens. 

All  Greece  and  Italy  were  by  degrees  filled  with  colonies  "and  cuS' 
toms  originally  derived  from  Egypt  or  Phenicia ;  but  the  ritual,  of 
which  Egypt  itself  had  forgotten  the  meaning  so  far  as  to  take  Osiris 
and  Isis  for  deities,  was  infinitely  more  disfigured  among  other  nations ; 
and  when  a  single  part  of  the  Egyptian  religion  was  any  where  intro- 
duced, it  grew  darker  and  darker,  for  want  of  being  connected  with 
the  other  practices  that  served  to  compose  the  whole.  The  three  Isises 
that  proclaimed  the  feasts  during  the  three  months  of  inundation 
being  presented  to  the  inhabitants,  who  seemed  to  become  amphibious 
by  their  long  dwelling  by  the  water-side,  were  sometimes  half- women, 
and  half-lizard,  or  half-women  and  half-fish.  One  of  them  had  in  her 
hand  an  instrument  of  m.usic  rounded  at  top,  and  called  Sistrum,  which 
was  the  symbol  of  the  hymns,  dances,  and  of  the  universal  joy  that 
appeared  throughout  Egypt,  when  the  Nile  was  of  requisite  height. 
They  sung  and  danced  at  that  time,  as  is  still  practised  in  Cairo,  and 
all  over  Egypt,  on  the  like  occasion.  They  called  the  woman  that 
carried  the  sistrum,  the  singer  of  hymns,  because  her  function  was  to 
publish  the  good  news,  and  the  hymns  of  the  great  feast.  This  is 
then  the  origin  of  the  Syrens  on  the  coast  of  Naples,  whose  name  sig- 
nifies to  sing  hymns.     (From    shir  hymnus  ;  and  from 

ranan,  canere.)  The  figure  given  to  all  the  three  is  exactly  that  of 
our  Isis.  The  number  of  the  Syrens  answers  to  that  of  the  three 
months  of  inundation  ;  and"  the  sistrum  borne  by  one  of  them  has, 
through  ignorance,  been  converted  into  a  looking-glass.  As  to  what 
is  said,  that  they  devoured  the  strangers,  that  presumed  to  come  too 
near  in  order  to  hear  them  ;  this  fable  is  grounded  on  what  was  given 
out,  that  the  three  Isises  of  the  summer  were  fatal  to  foreigners,  whom 
the  gross  and  marshy  air  of  Egypt  used  to  carry  off,  when  they  exposed 
themselves  too  much  to  it.  M.  de  Maillet,  and  all  travellers,  agree 
that  the  air  of  the  houses  is  then  suffocating,  that  no  one  can  bear  it 
and  that  every  body  has  tents  on  board  the  boats,  to  injoy  a  little  cool 
•ness.     It  is  therefore  evident,  thaHit  was  of  very  great  moment  to  for- 


THE    ANCIENT    EGYPTIANS.  63 

eigners  to  avoid  the  three  Syrens.  Let  us  not  leave  this  matter  without 
observing,  that  this  number  of  four  nymphs  for  the  four  seasons,  that  of 
three  for  the  moons  of  each  season  apart,  that  of  nine  for  the  nine 
months  during  which  they  work  in  Egypt,  their  attire,  their  functions, 
and  names,  are  things  very  plain,  connected  with  each  other,  and  equally 
agreable  both  with  nature  and  the  monuments.  Messieurs  Bochart  Huet,le 
Clerc,  and  other  learned  men,  have  thought  upon  these  several  subjects  in 
a  very  ingenious,  and  even  sometimes  very  judicious  manner.  But  what 
they  have  said  of  them  is  destitute  of  connection.  Facts  do  not  favor 
their  opinion ;  and  when  they  have  made  a  few  mythologies  accessible 
by  the  help  of  a  first  key,  they  cannot  lead  us  any  further  without  hav- 
ing recourse  to  a  new  key,  or  without  wresting  the  sense  of  every  thing. 
If  we  use  but  one  single  key,  and  the  bare  idea  of  a  sign  is  sufficient  to 
introduce  a  sense,  and  some  relations  between  figures  so  utterly  incohe- 
rent, is  it  not  because  we  are  indeed  arrived  at  their  true  original,  and 
have  found  out  the  common  and  general  intention  from  which  they 
sprung  ? 

The  Metamorphoses,  and  the  Phantoms. 

After  these  instances  of  fables  evidently  proceeding  partly  from  Egyp- 
tian figures  and  partly  from  the  popular  expressions,  equivocations,  or  pro- 
verbs occasioned  by  the  sight  of  these  figures  ;  we  have  acquired  a  privi- 
lege of  asserting  in  general  that  from  the  sanie  source,  metamorphoses, 
phantoms,  and  oracles  sprung. 

All  and  every  one  of  the  Egyptian  figures  had  been  established 
only  to  proclaim  the  feasts  and  works  to  come.  When  they  were 
become  so  many  gods,  all  these  deities  had  the  privilege  of  foretelling 
future  events  ;  whence  it  happened,  according  to  Herodotus,  (In  Euterp. 
num.  52.)  that  Jupiter,  Minerva,  Apollo,  Diana,  Mars,  and  above  all 
Latona,  pronounced  oracles  to  the  Egyptians.  The  oracle  of  Latona 
became  the  most  notable,  because  really  Latona  being  originally  no 
other  than  the  Isis,  half-woman  half-lizard,  or  the  virgin  Erigone  united 
to  a  lizard's  body,  to  mark  out  the  exact  height  of  the  increases  of  the 
Nile,  she  was  the  most  consulted  of  any  figure.  All  eyes  were  fixed 
upon  this  measure.  They  addressed  to  Latona  every  day  and  every 
hour.  When  she  was  at  last  made  a  goddess,  the  people  who  consulted 
her  imagined,  that  she  knew  every  thing.  But  we  shall  treat  of  this 
matter  apart,  as  there  is  nothing  in  point  of  which  it  is  so  difficult  to  make 
men  cast  off  their  ancient  prejudice,  as  the  predictions  of  futurity. 

The  same  source  from  which  the  oracles  sprung,  has  given  birth 
to  phantoms.     The  gods  which  men  had  forged  to  themselves,  bein^ 


64  DOGMAS    AND    CUSTOMS    OF 

for  the  most  part  hideous  and  monstrous  figures,  and  the  apprehension 
of  the  evil  they  were  reputed  capable  of  doing,  having  a  greater  share 
in  the  religion  of  nations  than  confidence  and  the  love  of  justice;  men 
represented  to  themselves  their  own  deities,  and  the  powers  which  they 
dreaded,  only  under  the  ideas  of  figures  bristling  with  serpents,  armed 
with  claws  or  horns,  very  often  with  yawning  wide-open  jaws,  and  with 
6uch  an  aspect  as  could  not  but  corrupt  the  imagination  and  reason  of 
children.  Thesp  empty  phantoms  fostered  in  them  a  childish  terror, 
that  lasted  as  long  as  their  lives. 

It  is  no  longer  any  task  to  guess  at  the  general  origin  of  metamor- 
phoses. Egypt  is  evidently  the  source  of  them.  A  man  with  a  dog, 
wolf  or  lion's  head  ;  a  woman,  who,  instead  of  feet,  has  a  lizard  or  a 
fish's  tail  j  a  child  with  the  body  of  a  serpent,  and  other  the  like  figures 
invented  to  supply  the  wants  we  have  mentioned,  being  no  longer 
understood,  they  imagined  as  many  fables  and  miraculous  changes  as 
there  were  of  these  compound  figures.  This  relish  for  surprising 
stories  became  universal  in  Phenicia,  then  in  Greece,  and  all  the  world 
over.  The  least  equivocation,  historical  facts  abriged,  short  and  pro- 
verbial expressions,  all  in  short  gave  birth  to  some  miraculous  transfor" 
mations. 

This  would  be  the  proper  place  to  explain  the  whole  series  of  the 
metamorphoses,  and  to  recall  them  severally  to  their  peculiar  originals. 
I  even  conceive  how  several  of  them  might  be  accounted  for  in  a  very 
plain  manner.  But  it  is  enough  for  us  to  know  how  this  odd  taste 
came  to  take  root  in  Greece  and  other  places.  The  particular  exami- 
nation of  these  innumerable  extravagances  would  become  tiresome  to 
my  readers  ;  and  far  from  being  willing  to  clog  them  with  a  new  train 
of  Phenician  etymologies,  I  am  really  very  much  afraid  of  having 
already  transgressed  bounds,  though  I  was  indispensably  obliged  to 
follow  this  method.  It  is  with  ancient  languages  as  with  geometry ; 
they  must  be  made  use  of  when  there  is  necessity  ;  but  it  is  ridiculous 
to  treat  of  needless  matters,  merely  for  the  sake  of  making  a  show  of 
erudition  and  geometrical  learning. 


The  Genealogy  of  the  Gods. 

Though  the  Egyptians,  by  introducing  great  mysteries  where  there 
were  none,  have  disfigured  history  and  religion,  yet  we  cannot  deny, 
them  the  glory  of  good  regulations  for  polity  and  public  order.  What- 
ever was  necessary,  and  must  be  done  in  common,  was  not  left  to  the 


THE     ANCIENT    EGYPTIANS.  65 

free-will  of  private  persons,  but  fixed  to  a  certain  time  of  the  year,  and 
proclaimed  by  public  signs. 

In  the  beginning  of  the  spring,  or  at  the  return  of  the  first  heats, 
which  in  Egypt  come  on  in  February,  they  cleansed  their  goods,  houses 
and  stables.  Every  thing  in  a  decayed  state,  being  of  no  use  to  the, 
Egyptian  lands  which  the  Nile  sufficiently  improved,  was  consumed 
by  fire. 

This  general  purification  was  proclaimed  by  an  Isis  and  a  Horus, 
who  had  names  agreeable  to  to  the  work  of  the  season.  The  Horus, 
was  called  Our  *  or  Ourim,  the  fire,  the  fire-brands  ;  and  the  Isis  was 
called  Obs,  f  or  Ops,  mould  or  hoariness.  These  purifications  whi(^h 
were  transmitted  from  coast  to  coast,  are  still  in  use  all  over  Europe 
towards  the  return  of  the  fair  weather  in  February  or  March  ;  and  the 
custom  of  lighting  fires  in  the  evening  on  certain  days  in  the  spring  for 
that  purpose  appointed,  is  still  the  amusement  of  youth  in  a  multitude 
of  cities  and  villages,  where  they  faithfully  observe  the  old  rubric 
without  knowing  the  reason  of  it.  Even  in  Egypt,  where  the  solemn 
feasts,  falling  back  one  day  every  fourth  year,  appeared  in  seasons  to 
which  they  had  no  longer  any  relation,  they  forgot  the  motive  of  the 
institution  of  the  feast  of  the  fire-brands,  but  they  were,  always  faithful 
in  the  observation  of  it. 

In  the  evening  the  inhabitants  of  Sais  began  their  great  feast  with  an 
illumination.  So  soon  as  the  neighboring  towns  saw  it,  they  lighted 
the  like  fires.  Each  did  the  same  one  after  another,  and  all  Egypt 
took  a  part  in  the  feast  by  a  general  illittnination.  (Herodot.  in 
Euterp.  n.  50.) 

The  moon  of  February,  besides  the  visitation  of  houses,  proclaimed 
two  other  operations.  The  one  consisted  in  scouring  the  canals  and 
chanels  of  the  Nile ;  and  the  other,  which  immediately  preceded  the 
harvests,  was  the  decision  of  law-suits. 

The  priests,  during  the  year,  appeared  but  seldom  in  public,  except 
at  the  times  of  religious  affairs.  But  they  went  out  in  the  spring,  that 
is,  in  February,  and  met  to  judge  the  differences  of  private  persons,  that 
these  might  afterwards  freely  go  about  their  respective  works. 

The  scouring  of  the  ditches  and  canals  ^as  proclaimed  in  the 
assembly  of  the  neomenia,  by  an  Isis  that  was  called  Tite,  or  Tetis, 

♦ our,  whence  the  Latins  derived  their  word  ouer  or  ver,  the  spring.     They 

had  also  their  Februa,  that  is,  their  general  purifications  in  the  month  of  February, 
which  had  its  name  from  thence. 

t  From abash,  putrescere,  muddumjieri,  comes ohs^  mucor,  petrwdo. 

obsu  pheruaot,  the  rotten  com.    Joel  i.  17. 

9 


66  DOGMA*    AND    CUSTOMS   OF 

and  by  an  Horus  whose  name- was  Titan,  that  is,  the  mud,  the  raking 
up  of  the  earth,     ( tit,  ccenum,  lutum* 

The  assembly  of  the  priests  to  judge  the  people  was  proclaimed  by 
a  Horus  with  a  great  beard,  and  a  scythe  in  his  hand.  He  was  indiffer- 
ently called  Sudec,  Keren,  Chiun,  and  Cheunna,  or  Saterin;  and  by  an 
Isis  with  many  breasts,  and  encompassed  with  the  heads  of  animals. 
This  Isis  was  on  this  occasion  called  Rhea.  The  Horus  with  his  great 
beard  denoted  the  assembly  of  the  ancient  men.  The  scythe  in  his 
hand  denoted  hay-making  and  the  harvest,  which  immediately  fol- 
lowed the  assize.       They   called  this  figure  Sudec  or  stadic,  Justus.) 

which    means   the    just ;    Crone,    ( keren,    splendor,  )    that 

is,  the  glory,  the  dignity  the  majesty  ;  or  the  crown,  that  is  the 
circle  of  the  judges  ;  Chiun  or    Cheunna,  which   means  the  assembly 

of  the  priests  ;  in  short,  Soterim, soter,  judex,  soterim  or  sotrim^ 

judices  and  principes.  Joshua  i.  10:  sometimes  executores,  satellites, 
or  Setrum,  w^hich  signifies  the  judges,  or  the  execution  of  the  judg- 
ments.\ 

After  the  decision  of  the  law  suits  of  private  persons,  and  while 
the  people  were  busy  about  cutting  down  and  threshing  the  corn,  the 
judges  continued  to  hold  their  sessions,  to  provide  by  general  regulating 
for  all  the  exigencies  of  the  state  ;  and  it  was  on  account  of  their  being 
assembled  the  rest  of  the  year  till  the  rising  of  the  dog-star  in  June  or 
July,  that  the  characteristick  of  the  judgments,  viz.  the  old  man  armed 
with  a  scjrthe,  remained  in  his  place,  till  they  saw  a  new  Osiris,  a  new 
sun,  that  is,  till  the  new  year.  We  shall  see  the  strange  fables  to  which 
this  particular  circumstance  gave  birth. 

They  by  degrees  lost  the  meaning  of  these  plain  figures  and 
names,  that  were  in  use  at  the  feasts  in  which  the  whole  was  become 
an  invariable  ceremonial.  The  current  or  the  running  writing  caused 
the  sense  of  them  to  be  neglected  ;  on  the  other  hand,  nothing  contri- 
buted more  to  make  it  forgotten  than  the  custom  of  not  reckoningexactly 
the  sacred  year,  and  of  always  putting  the  beginning  of  it  back  a  whole 
day  every  fourth  year  ;  so  that  the  feasts  and  figures  relating  to  the 
operations  of  the  spring,  being  placed  in  autumn  or  winter,  and  so  of  the 
rest,  they  no  longer   understood   any  thing  of  what   this  multitude  of 

♦  '  Father  Pezron  derives  the  name  Titan  from  the  Celtic,  T^  the  earth,  and  Den, 
a  man.' — Bailey.  Edit. 

t  'Justice  (among  the  IsraeUtes,)  was  administered  by  two  sorts  of  officers  Shophe- 
Hnii  and  Soterim,  estabUshed  in  every  city,  by  the  command  which  God  gave  to  Moses 
Deut,  xvi.  18. J  These  posts  were  given  to  Levites,  and  there  were  six  thousand  of 
hem  in  D  avid's  time  (1  Chron.  xxiii.  4.)  Dr.  Adam  Clarke's,  Hist.  Isreal,  p.  164,— Edit 


THE    ANCIENT    EGYPTIANS.  67 

figures  meant.  All  being  taken  for  so  many  men  and  women  whose 
apothesis  was  celebrated,  the  people  assigned  to  them  a  genealogy- 
agreeable  to  the  order  of  their  feasts.  Osiris  and  Isis,  who  began  the 
year,  were  the  two  great  deities  that  held  the  first  rank  and  from  whom 
they  made  the  secondary  gods  and  goddesses  already  spoken  of,  to 
descend.  But  from  whom  shall  Orisis  and  Isis,  that  is,  Jupiter  and 
his  wife,  proceed  ?  They,  as  well  as  their  brothers  Neptune  and 
Pluto,  are  the  children  of  that  venerable  old  man,  who,  of  all  the 
signs  exposed,  was  what  appeared  the  longest  towards  the  end  of 
the  year,  and  whose  place  Jupiter  afterwards  took.  According  to  the 
primitive  order,  a  new  Osiris  and  a  new  Isis,  or  the  posted  signs  of  the 
new  year,  appeared  again  in  June  or  July.  According  to  the  order  of 
later  times,  all  these  figures,  it  is  true,  succeeded  each  other  in  the 
same  manner,  but  in  seasons  and  months  to  which  they  had  no  longer 
any  just  relation.  Thus  Sudec,  or  Cronos,  or  Saturn,  became  father  of 
Jupiter  and  Isis.  Saturn,  Rhea,  Tetis  and  Titan  were  their  forefathers. 
The  Titans  were  looked  upon  as  the  children  of  Ur,  or  Urane,  and  of 
Ops.  Several  genealogists  go  no  further.  Others,  as  Diodorus,  make 
Urane  and  Ops  the  children  of  Acmon.  The  Egyptians,  in  their  gen- 
ealogy, go  back  even  to  Vulcan.  Now  Acmon,  the  brazier,  and  Vul- 
can are  but  one  and  the  same  thing. 

Thus  all  these  great  personages  that  have  peopled  heaven,  whom 
every  country  flattered  themselves  with  having  had  for  their  inhabitants, 
to  whom  poets  have  attributed  tragical  adventures,  and  all  the  accidents 
of  humanity  ;  these  great  conquerors,  the  histories  of  whom  our 
learned  men  are  incessantly  sifting,  even  so  far  as  to  penetrate  into 
the  political  concerns  that  prompted  them  to  act,  prove  at  last  to  be,  as 
well  as  Cancer,  Capricorn,  the  balance,  or  the  sphinx,  mere  ensigns  or 
public  marks  and  figures  posted  up  to  direct  the  people,  and  regulate 
the  feasts  and  public  works  all  the  year  round, 

Saturn. 

Again  I  find  a  proof  of  the  same  truth  in  the  observations  which 
the  fable  of  Saturn  naturally  oflfers  to  my  mind. 

Instead  of  painting  him  with  a  scythe,  to  signify  that  the  sessions  of 
the  judges  are  to  be  held  in  the  time  of  harvest  and  hay-making,  we 
sometimes  find  him  represented  with  eyes  before  and  behind,  (Sancho- 
niathonin  Euseb,  prap,  Evangel.)  some  of  which  are  awake,  and  the 
others  asleep  ;  and  with  four  wings,  two  of  which  are  spread  and  two 


68 


DOGMAS    AND    CUSTOMS    OF 


closed  ;  which  marked  out  the  penetration  and  continuance  of  the  work 
of  the  judges,  who  relieved  each  other  by  succession  night  and  day,  to 
dispatch  the  affairs  of  the  people  and  those  of  the  state,  without  making 
any  one  to  linger  under  prejudicial  and  destructive  delays.  A  new  proof  of 
Saturn'sbeingajudge,or  the  symbol  of  justice,  whose  penetration  nothing 
can  escaj)e,  is  that  the  poets,  and  above  all.  Homer,  most  commonly  calls 
him  the  penetrating,  the  sagacious,  the  subtil,  the  quick-sighted  Saturn. 
Again  it  was,  because  Saturn  in  its  original,  signified  the  execution  of 
the  judgments,  or  the  punishment  of  crminals,  that  they  usually  said, 
Saturn  carried  away  somebody,  and  demanded  his  victim  every  year. 
Thence  came  the  opinion  they  had,  that  Saturn  would  be  worshipped  by 
the  effasion  of  human  blood,  and  t}ie  barbarous  custom  which  every 
where  spread,  making  its  way  from  Phenicia  into  Africa,  and  thence 
throughout  Europe. 

It  was  because  Saturn  or  Chrone  had  a  necessary  relation  to  the 
equity  oi  the  judgments,  that  were  passed  without  any  respect  of  per- 
sons, that  Saturn  was  said  to  have  reigned  with  perfect  gentleness  and 
integrity.  They  said  farther,  that  a  perpetual  spring  reigned  in  his 
time,  because  the  sessions  of  the  judges  were  anciently  inseparable  from 
the  finest  month  of  the  j'-ear :  such  is  constantly  the  month  of  Febru- 
ary in  Egypt. 

The  custom  of  reckoning  365  days  for  the  year,  without  intercala- 
ting one  day  at  four  years  end,  by  degrees  displaced  all  the  feasts,  and 
made  people  forget  that  the  figures  there  exposed  related  to  the  circum- 
stances of  the  season. 

In  imitation  of  this  usage,  justice  was  anciently  administered  in 
Europe  in  the  finest  of  our  months,  viz.  in  May.  We  still  find  in  a 
multitude  of  places  remains  of  this  custom,  in  the  practice  observed  by 
the  farmers  of  the  duties  and  receipts  of  lords,  of  setting  up  branches 
with  their  leaves  on,  or  a  green'arbour  before  the  chief  or  manor-house, 
where  the  assizes  were  held  formerly,  and  where  executions  of  crimi- 
nals were  made.  But  all  this  preparation  is  grounded  on  the  circum- 
stance of  the  season  in  which  justice  was  administered  in  remotest  anti- 
quity ;  it  was  in  the  finest  of  our  months.  The  above  mentioned  green 
arbor  is  still  called  the  May,  and  the  terms  of  magistrate  and  majesty 
seem  to  be  borrowed  from  the  name  of  the  month  in  which  these  ven- 
erable assemblies  were  held  in  Europe.* 

♦  This  month  has  received  its  name  from  the  Pleias  anciently  called  Maia,  which 
then  disengaged  itself  from  the  rays  of  the  sun,  distant  thirty  de^ees  and  passing 
under  Gemim. 


THE    ANCIENT    EGYPTIANS.  419 

We  again  find  a  sensible  token  of  the  relation  Saturn  had  to  the 
judicial  functions  of  the  sacredotal  order,  in  the  disposal  of  the  public 
treasure  and  the  archives  in  the  temple  of  Saturn.  {Festus,  et  Lil.  Greg. 
Girald.  syntagm.  4.)  This  was  an  imitation  of  the  method  of  the 
Egyptians,  who  anciently  put  the  public  treasure  and  the  records  of 
the  genealogies  of  families  in  the  tower  or  labyrinth  under  the  custody 
of  the  priests. 

In  fine,  there  is  no  better  proof  that  people  were  perfectly  ignorant 
of  the  sense  of  the  figures  mistaken  for  deified  personages,  than  the 
notion  which  the  Greeks  framed  to  themselves  of  Saturn  when  he  was 
brought  into  their  country. 

The  name  of  Chrone  under  which  he  was  known  to  them,  very 
plainly  signified  the  majesty  of  the  judicial  assemblies,  the  erown  or 
circle  of  the  judges.  But  not  knowing  what  this  figure  and  its  inten- 
tion were,  and  finding  a  relation  of  sound  between  the  name  of  Chrone 
and  that  of  Chronos  which  among  them  signified  time  they  interpreted, 
the  whole  symbol  in  that  sense.  The  age  of  the  figure  squared  with  this 
incomparably  well.  But  what  were  they  to  do  with  the  scythe  he  carries 
in  his  hand  ?  Why,  he  shall  use  it  to  cut  down  every  thing.  Above  all, 
the  stones  which  they  made  him  to  devour  in  Syria,  seemed  to  distinguish 
him  perfectly  well.  Time  consumes  eveiy  thing,  and  preys  upon  the 
very  stones. 


The  following  judicious  remarks,  from  the  Myth.  Diet,  of  W.  Howell,  B.  D.  sup- 
port the  hypotheses  of  Pluche,  in  regard  to  the  manner  in  which  names  have  been 
appropriated  to  individual  persons  that  never  had  existence. 

Semiramis. 

The  wonderflil  actions  of  Ninus  and  Semiramis  may  be  read  in  divers  historians, 
Herodotus,  Strabo,  Diodorus  Siculus,  Ctesias,  etc.  The  accounts  are  inconsistent  and 
incredible  ;  and  indeed  what  credit  can  be  given  to  the  History  of  a  person,  Semiramis, 
the  time  of  whose  life  cannot  be  ascertained  within  1535  years  '?  for  so  great  is  the  dif' 
ference  of  the  extremes  of  the  following  numbers. 

According  to  Syncellus  she  lived  before  Christ  2177,  years,  Patavius  makes  ihe  term 
2060,  Helvicus,  2248,  Eusebius  1984,  Mr.  Jackson,  1964,  Abp-Usher,  1215,  Philo  Bib. 
lius  from  Sanchoniathon  1200,  Herodotus  about  713. 

The  history  of  Ninus  and  Semiramis  is  in  great  measure  founded  upon  terms,  which 
have  been  misconstructed  ;  and  fictions  have  been  invented  in  consequence  of  these 
mistakes.  Under  the  character  of  Semiramis  we  are  certainly  to  understand  a  people 
called  Semarim,  a  title  assumed  by  the  ancient  Babylonians.  They  were  called  Sem. 
arimfrom  their  ensign,  which  was  a  dove,  expressed  Semiramis.  It  was  used  as  an 
object  of  worship,  and  esteemed  the  same  as  Rhea,  the  mother  of  the  gods.     It  wa« 


70  DOGMAS    AND    CUSTOMS    Or 

a  common  mode  of  expression  to  call  a  tribe  or  a  family  by  the  name  of  its  founder : 
and  a  nation  by  the  head  of  the  line.  People  are  often  spoken  of  collectively  in  the 
singular  under  such  a  patronymic.  Hence  we  read  in  Scripture,  that  Israel  abode  in 
tents  ;  that  Judah  was  put  to  the  worst  in  battle,  etc.  When  it  was  said,  that  the 
Ninevite  performed  any  great  action,  it  has  been  ascribed  to  a  person  called  Ninus,  the 
supposed  founder  of  Nineveh.  But  we  may  be  assured,  that  under  the  character  of 
Ninus  and  Ninyas,  we  are  to  understand  the  Ninevites  ;  as  by  Semiramis  is  meant  a 
people  called  Samarim  :  and  the  great  actions  of  these  two  nations  are  in  the  histories 
of  these  personages  recorded.  But  writers  have  rendered  the  account  inconsistent,  by 
limiting,  what  was  an  historical  series  of  many  ages,  to  the  life  of  a  single  person. 

The  Ninevites  and  Samarim  did  perform  all  that  is  attributed  to  Semiramis,  and 
Ninus.  They  did  conquer  the  Medes  and  largely  extended  their  dominions.  But  these 
events  were  mhny  ages  after  the  foundation  of  the  two  kingdoms. 

It  is  said  of  this  ideal  personage,  that  she  was  exposed  among  rocks  ;  but  deUvered 
and  preserved  by  Simma,  a  Shepherd  ;  and  was  afterwards  married  to  one  Menon  » 
she  is  likewise  said  to  have  constructed  the  first  ship.  Now  Simma  is  a  personage 
made  out  of  Sema,  or  Sama,  the  divine  token.  Menon  is  the  deus  Lunus,  under  which 
type  the  Ark  was  reverenced  in  many  regions  :  and  as  it  was  the  first  ship  constructed, 
with  which  the  history  of  the  Dove  was  closely  connected  they  have  given  to  Semiramis 
the  merit  of  building  it. 

Sesostris. 

The  history  of  this  personage  has  been  admitted  as  credible  by  the  most  learned 
writers  and  chronologists  ;  though  they  cannot  determine  the  era  of  his  reign  v^dthin  a 
thousand  years.  Notice  has  been  taken  under  several  articles  of  the  supposed  con- 
querors of  the  earth  ;  and  among  them  of  the  reputed  deities  of  Egypt,  under  the 
names  of  Osiris,  Perseus,  etc.  These  are  supposed,  if  they  ever  existed,  to  have  lived 
in  the  first  ages  of  the  world,  when  Egypt  was  in  its  infant  state ;  and  Sesostris  is  made 
one  of  the  number.  He  is  by  some  placed  before  Orus ;  and  by  some  after.  He  is  also 
represented  under  the  different  names  of  Sethos,  Sethosis,  Sesoothis,  Seconthosis,  and 
Sesostris. 

Osiris  is  said  to  have  conquered  the  whole  earth ;  then  Zeus,  then  Perseus,  then  Her- 
cules, all  nearly  of  the  same  degree  of  antiquity  ;  if  we  may  beheve  the  best  mytho- 
logists.  Myrina  comes  in  for  a  share  of  conquest  in  the  time  of  Orus.  After  her 
Thoules  subdues  the  whole  from  the  eastern  ocean  to  the  great  Atlantic  ;  and  as  if 
nothing  had  been  performed  before,  Sesostris  succeeds,  and  conquers  it  over  again.  By 
comparing  the  histories  of  ancient  personages  together,  we  may  perceive  that  they  bear 
a  manifest  similitude  to  one  another ;  tho'  they  are  attributed  to  different  persons. 
Sesostris  was  Osiris ;  the  same  as  Dionysius,  Menes,  and  Noah. 

Origin  of  Apis  and  Mnevis. 

Nothing  could  be  more  convenient  or  more  ingenious  than  the 
astronomical  language,  which  immediately  characterized  each  season 
and  the  works  peculiar  to  it,  by  making  the  governor  of  the  earth  enter 
into  the  twelve  signs  of  the  zodiac,  whose  names  had  a  just  relation  to 
what  successively  passes  upon  the  earth  in  the  course  of  a  year.  Noth- 
ing so  gross,  on  the  contrary,  or  so  pitiful  as  the  historical  sense  which 


THE    ANCIENT    EGYPTIANS.  71 

the  people  afterwards  anexed  to  this  language  ;  and  such  is  evidently 
the  origin  of  the  ridiculous  doctrine  of  the  transmigration  of  souls, 
which  Pythagoras  brought  to  Italy  as  a  rare  discovery. 

Generally  all  the  animals  of  which  the  stars  bear  the  name,  were 
looked  upon  with  veneration  by  the  Egyptians,  as  having  been  the  first 
retreats  of  their  gods,  and  as  being  very  possibly  appointed  for  that  of 
their  dead  parents.  People  never  looked  without  a  religious  awe  upon 
those  in  which  they  knew  Osiris  and  Isis  had  resided,  such  as  the  ram, 
the  bull,  the  heifer,  the  goat,  and  the  lion.  Their  ancient  custom  of 
carrying  ceremonially  at  the  feasts  of  certain  seasons,  the  animal  whose 
name  the  house  into  which  the  sun  entered,  went  by,  disposed  the  peo- 
ple of  certain  provinces  to  honor  particularly  the  animal  carried  at  the 
feasts  that  concurred  with  the  conclusion  of  their  harvest. 

Chance  having  produced  a  calf  at  Memphis  which  had  some  spots 
nearly  in  the  figure  of  a  circle  or  crescent,  symbols  so  much  reverenced 
among  them,  this  singularity  was  taken  by  them  for  the  characteristic  of 
Osiris  and  Isis  stamped  upon  the  animal  which  their  gods  had  an 
affection  for  :  and  that  this  was  an  apparition  of  the  governor,  a  visit 
which  the  protector  of  Egypt  deigned  to  make  them.  This  miracu- 
lous calf,  after  having  served  preferably  to  any  other  at  the  ordinary 
ceremonial,  was  lodged  in  the  finest  place  in  Memphis.  All  his  motions 
were  judged  prophetical,  and  the  people  flocked  to  him  with  their 
offerings.  He  received  the  great  name  of  Apis,  which  means  the  mighty, 
the  powerful  god. 

They  took  great  care  after  his  death  to  replace  him  with  another 
that  had  nearly  the  same  spots.  When  the  marks  desired  were  not 
neat  and  exact,  they  were  improved  with  a  pencil. 

They  even  seasonably  and  after  a  certain  time  prevented  the  inde- 
cency of  his  death,  by  leading  him  in  ceremony  to  a  place  where  they 
drowned  and  then  interred  him  very  devoutly.  This  melancholy  cere- 
mony was  intermixed   with  torrents   of  tears,    and   was   emphatically 

called  Sarapis,  or  the  retreat  of  Apis,  (- sur,  recedere  ; sar 

abir,  recessit  Apis.  Vid.  Judic.  xvi :  20.),  a  name  which  was  after- 
wards given  to  Pluto  the  infernal  Osiris.  After  the  burial  of  Apis,  his 
successor  was  sought  for.  Thus  was  this  strange  devotion  perpetuated. 
A  powerful  motive  contributed  greatly  to  it,  viz.  it  was  lucrative. 

The  inhabitants  of  Heliopolis,  who  made  a  separate  dynasty,  or  a 
kingdom  difl^erent  from  that  at  Memphis,  thought  themselves  too  much 
in  the  favor  of  the  sun  whose  name  their  capital  bore,  not  to  partake 
of  his  visits  or  those  of  his  son.     They  therefore  soon  had  the  sacred 


72  DOGMAS    AND    CUSTOMS    OF 

OX  as  well  as  those  of  Memphis.  They  called  him  Menavis  or  Mnevis 
which  is  the  same  thing  as  Menes  the  mighty,  or  the  same  with  Meno- 
phis  ;  and  in  choosing  this  magnificent  name  for  him,  they  supposed 
other  qualities'and  other  functions  in  him  no  less  capable  of  drawing 
crowds  of  people  thither. 

Phi/ton  or  Typhon. 

Osiris  being  become  the  common  father  of  the  Egyptians,  was  by 
degrees  looked  upon  as  the  principle  from  which  all  the  good  that  hap- 
pened to  Egypt  sprung;  in  like  manner,  Phyton,  when  he  was 
become  the  name  of  the  symbol  that  signified  the  havock  of  waters,  was 
looked  upon  as  an  ill-minded  spirit,  as  a  principle  fond  of  thwarting, 
perpetually  intent  upon  crossing  and  prejudicing  them.  They  made 
him  the  principle  of  all  disorder,  and  charged  him  with  all  the  physi- 
cal evils  they  could  not  avoid,  and  all  the  moral  evils  which  they  did 
not  care  to  lay  to  their  own  charge.  Hence  came  the  doctrine  of  the 
two  opposite  principles,  equally  powerful,  incessantly  striving  against 
each  other  ;  {Plutarch,  de  hid.  and  Osir.,)  and  alternately  vanquished 
and  victorious.  This  doctrine,  which  from  the  Egy^ptians  was  handed 
down  to  the  Persians  under  the  names  of  Oromazes  and  Arimazes,  is 
altogether  difierent  from  ours,  "according  to  which  God,  conformably  to 
the  adorable  views  of  his  providence,  employs  the  ministry  of  the  spirits 
who  have  persevered  in  a  state  of  uprightness,  and  leaves  a  certain 
measure  of  power  to  those  who  are  fallen  from  it. 

The  aversion  of  the  Egyptians  for  this  Phyton  their  imaginary 
enemy,  and  according  to  them  incessantly  intent  upon  vexing  them, 
went  so  far,  that  they  no  longer  dared  to  pfonounce  his  name.  How- 
ever, we  find  it  entire  in  the  language  of  the  Hebrews  who  had  dwelt 
in  Egypt,  and  had  contracted  the  habit  of  calling  by  that  name  the  most 

mischievous  of  serpents,  that  is,  the   asp.     ( peteu.)  The  entire 

name  of  Phyton  or  Python,  is  found  again  in  the  most  ancient  and  most 
celebrated  fables  of  paganism.  There  we  see  this  terrible  monster 
engaged  with  the  god  who  enlightens  the  world,  and  spreading  deso- 
lation every  where. 

Nothing  has  been  more  celebrated  in  antiquity  than  the  victory  of 
the  sun ;  nothing  more  abhorred  than  Phyton,  when,  from  a  painted 
monster,  he  was  become  a  being  intent  upon  doing  mischief  The 
Egyptians  fearing  to  defile  themselves  by  the  bare  pronouncing  of  that 


THE  ANCIENT  EGYPTIANS.  7J 

detestable  name,  retained  the  letters  of  it,  and  converted  them  into  that 
of  Typhon.* 

We  have  seen  how  the  cross,  as  well  entire  as  abridged,  was  the 
mark  of  the  increase  of  the  Nile,  because  it  was  the  measure  of  it. 
When  confined  in  the  hand  of  Osiris,  in  the  claws  of  the  hawk,  or 
the  hand  of  Horus,  it  yery  plainly  signified  the  overflowing  of  the 
Nile  regulated  by  the  sun,  strengthened  by  the  wind,  and  subject  to 
fixed  rules.  This  cross  which  in  their  vulgar  writing,  as  likewise  in 
the  ancient  Hebraic  characters,  in  the  Greek  and  the  Latin  alphabet, 
was  the  letter  Tau. 

That  the  cross  or  the  T  suspended  by  a  ring,  was  taken  by  the 
Egyptians  for  the  deliverance  from  evil,  we  may  assure  ourselves 
by  consuhing  their  practices,  which  are  the  surest  interpretation  of  the 
opinion  that  governed  them. 

They  hung  it  round  the  neck  of  their  children,  and  of  their  sick 
people.  They  applied  it  to  the  strings  or  fillets  with  which  they  wrap- 
ped up  their  mummies,  where  we  still  find  it.  What  can  in  their  ideas 
signify  a  T  placed  near  those  of  to  whom  they  wished  health  and  life, 
if  not  the  deliverance  from  the  disease  and  death,  which  they  hoped  to 
obtain  by  these  superstitious  practices. 

Hence  we  see  how  strangely  they  misapplied  those  figures,  which 
in  their  first  institution  related  to  the  Nile,  to  husbandry,  and  to  things 
totally  foreign  to  the  applications  of  succeeding  times.  This  very  pro- 
bably is  an  introductive  key,  wherewith  one  might  strive  to  explain  part 
of  the  meaning  which  the  Egyptians  of  the  later  times  have  given  to 
their  sacred  writing. 

This  custom  of  the  Egyptians  appeared  so  beneficial  and  so  impor- 
tant, that  it  was  adopted  by  other  nations.  The  children  and  the  sick 
most  commonly  wore  a  ticket,  wherein  was  a  T  which  they  looked 
upon  as  a  powerful  preservative.  In  process  of  time  other  characters' 
were  substituted  in  the  room  of  the  letter  T,  which  was  at  first  engraved 
on  this  ticket,  but  of  which  the  other  nations  understood  neither  the 
meaning  nor  the  intention.  They  often  put  a  serpent  in  it,  an  Harpo- 
crates,  or  the  object  of  the  devotions  in  vogue ;  nay  sometimes  ridicu- 
lous figures,  or  even  some  that  were  of  the  utmost  indecency.  But  the 
name  of  Amulet,  (Amolimentun  malorum*),  that  was  given    to  this 


♦Some  people  even  at  this  day,  have  a  reluctance  to  pronounce  the  common  English 
name  of  this  prince  of  darkness.  They  call  him  the  deHl,  the  old  nicky  old  harry,  dfcc. 
Edit. 

10 


74  DOGMAS    AND    CUSTOMS    OF 

ticket,  and  which  signifies  the  removal  of  the  evil,  most  naturally  rep- 
resents the  intention  of  the  Egyptians,  from  whom  this  practice  came. 


The  above  mentioned  practice,  we  have  seen,  arose  from  the  instrument  used  for 
measuring  the  height  of  the  inundation  of  the  Nile,  being  an  abridgement  of  it,  and 
which  was  considered  the  salvation  of  Egypt.  A  like  veneration  is  bestowed  upon 
this  figure,  that  is,  the  cross,  by  Roman  CathoUcs  :  which,  like  other  customs  of  the 
ancients,  has  probably  been  adopted  by  them  without  understanding  its  origin,  and 
which  they  attribute  to  a  different  source.  A  spell,  which  they  no  doubt  consider 
more  potent,  however,  is  now  generally  used  instead  of  the  cross.  This  is  called  gos- 
pels, and  consists  of  short  passages  extracted  from  the  gospels  by  a  priest,  wliich 
is  enclosed  in  a  piece  of  silk,  and  tied  round  the  necks  of  children,  going  to  bed. 

The  same  superstition  prevails  among  the  Mahometans. 

Dr.  Hume,  in  Walpole's  memoirs,  speaking  of  modern  Egypt,  says,  "The  general 
remedy  in  cases  of  fever  and  other  kinds  of  illness,  is  a  saphie  from  a  priest,  which 
consists  of  some  sentence  from  the  Koran  writtpn  on  a  small  piece  of  paper  and  tied 
round  the  patience's  neck.  This,  if  the  sick  man  recovers,  he  carefully  preserves  by 
keeping  it  constantly  between  his  scull-caps,  of  which  he  generally  wears  two  or  three. 
Saphies  are  very  commonly  used  by  the  Mahammedans,  being  considered  to  possess 
much  efl&cacy  for  the  body  as  well  as  the  soul,  and  occupy  the  same  place  in  the  esti- 
mation of  the  superstitions  as  did  the  frontlets  of  the  Jews  and  the  phylacteries  of  the 
early  Christians."    Q-uoted  in  Russell's  View  of  Egypt,  p.  324,  New-York  edition. 

In  regard  to  the  sacred  writing  of  the  Egyptians,  it  is  not  improbable  that  its  char- 
acters were  originnally  formed  from  the  figure  of  the  Nilometer,  consisting  of  right, 
angles  and  thence  considered  sacred. 

The  Egyptian  Mysteries. 

We  must  not  expect,  we  are  told,  that  the  priests  of  Isis,  or  Plutarch, 
or  any  other  travellers  who  heard  them  talk,  can  he  able  to  give  us  any 
information  about  the  true  sense  and  meaning  of  their  symbols.  It  was 
a  mysterious  theology  ;  which  they  took  great  care  not  to  divulge. 
Those  who  were  initiated  therein,  engaged  themselves  by  an  oath  never 
to  communicate  to  the  people  any  part  of  what  had  been  revealed  to 
them.  Does  not  Herodotus  often  tell  us,  that  he  is  permitted  upon  no 
account  whatever,to  reveal  the  names  and  the  honors  that  were  destined 
and  annexed  to  certain  deities,  or  what  these  deities  were  ?  The  secret 
in  this  point  being  inviolable,  are  we  to  wonder  that  they  have  not 
explained  themselves  on  the  grounds  which  concern  us  ;  and  can  we 
judge  of  what  they  have  not  revealed  ? 

Let  us  then  see,  (and  this  shall  be  the  conclusion  of  our  essay  upon 
the  Egyptian  religion)  what  these  mysteries  so  much  spoken  of  were  ; 
and,  if  possible  let  us  penetrate  into  these  secrets,  in  spite  of  the  veils 
and  harries  intended  to  render  them  inaccessible. 


THB    ANCIENT    EGYPTIANS.  75 

Among  the  ancient  Egyptian  figures,  there  were  some  which  could 
not  well  be  mistaken  for  celestial  gods,  and  of  which  it  was  difficult  to 
lose  the  meaning,  having  at  first  been  of  infinite  use  to  the  people.  Such 
were,  for  instance,  the  serpent,  the  canopus,  and  the  hawk.  We  see 
therefore,  from  the  interpretation  given  of  them  by  the  grammarian 
Horapollo,  that  in  the  fourth  century  the  Egpytian  priesst  still  expres- 
sed the  life  or  eternity  of  their  gods  by  a  serpent  encompassing  thme  : 
(Serpejitem  auream  Diis  suis  circumponunt.)  that  they  repre- 
sented the  overflowing  of  the  Nile  by  three  piichers,  and  denoted 
the  wind  by  a  hawk  spreading  her  wings.  Accipiter  alis  in  aere  pro- 
tensisventum  significat.  Ibid.  But  the  people  having  once  forgotten 
\hesQn%Q  oi  i\iQ  sacred  writing,  and  taken  human  figures  for  celestial 
powers,  never  gave  over  inventing  histories  ;  and  the  priests  who  pre- 
served this  writing,  adapted  it  to  their  histories,  which  renders  it  worthy, 
of  contempt,  and  altogether  different  from  the  ancient  as  to  the  mean- 
ing. 

The  priests  at  first  retained  a  part  of  the  primitive  explications. 
Thence  comes  the  mixture  of  great  and  little  in  the  Egyptian  theology 
and  in  the  Eleusinian  which  was  the  same.  In  there  more  than  any 
where  remained  the  ancient  footsteps  of  the  truths,  which  constituted 
the  principal  ground-work  of  the  religion  of  the  patriarchs. 

But  it  would  have  been  dangerous  for  the  Egyptian  priests  to  attempt 
undeceiving  the  people  and  divert  them  from  the  pleasing  thought  that 
Osiris  and  Isis  were  two  real  personages,  and  were  besides  of  their 
country  and  the  protectors  of  Egypt.  This  chimera  and  all  the  others 
in  appearance  were  authorized  by  the  agreement  of  the  monuments  with 
the  common  phrase.  The  actions  of  Osiris  and  Isis  were  incessantly 
mentioned.  The  people  believed  what  they  saw  and  what  they  heard. 
The  perpetual  recital  of  as  many  historical  facts,  as  there  were  figures 
and  ceremonies  exhibited,  completed  their  errors,  and  rendered  them 
invincible. 

If  our  councils  and  the  most  venerable  of  our  bishops  have  had  so 
much  ado  to  abolish  among  the  people  the  belief  of  certain  legends 
unworthy  the  majesty  of  our  religion,  and  which  were  connected  with 
no  monument  capable  of  countenancing  them  ;  how  can  we  conceive 
that  the  Egyptian  priests  were  able  to  take  from  a  people  immersed  in 
ignorance  and  cupidity,  the  extravagant  stories  which  universal  custom 
offered  to  their  minds  on  sight  of  the  personages  and  animals  where- 
with the  places  of  their  assemblies  were  filled  ?     It  is  much  more  nat- 


76  DOGMAS    AND    CUSTOMS    OF 

ural  to  think,  that  the  priests  themselves,  like  the  rest,  yielded  to  the 
persuation  of  being  under  the  patronage  of  their  ancestors  transported 
into  the  stars,  and  now  the  moderators  of  the  sun,  the  moon,  and  of  all 
nature.  The  people,  in  their  fanatic  enthusiasm,  would  have  torn  in 
pieces  any  that  should  have  dared  to  deny  the  history  of  Osiris  and  Isis. 
Truth  was  then  altered  and  obscured  by  the  very  priests.  They  first 
accustomed  themselves  to  these  notions,  because  it  was  dangerous  not  to 
comply  with  them  and  afterwards  became  themselves  the  most  zealous 
defenders  of  them.  The  whole  came  on  by  degrees.  They  first  com 
plied  with  the  common  language,  because  they  thought  they  could  not 
stem  the  torrent ;  but  they  studied  in  private  what  they  could  collect  of 
the  interpretation  of  the  ancient  writing.  Thus  they  at  once  admitted 
both  the  popular  stories  and  t}>e  explications  that  demolished  them : 
they  only  took  care  to  require  profound  secrecy  from  those  whom  they 
would  instruct  in  a  more  solid  manner. 

Thus  instruction  assumed  a  mysterious  and  important  air,  without 
altering  any  thing  in  what  the  people  believed.  It  only  mentioned  a 
a  more  perfect  state,  and  a  kind  of  knowledge  of  which  none  became 
capable  till  after  many  trials  and  efforts  which  suited  not  the  common 
fort  of  men.  Thus  they  avoided  exciting  the  fury  of  the  people.— 
This  was  already  a  crying  injustice  in  those  priests  to  detain  truth  cap- 
tive, and  to  appropriate  it  exclusively  to  themselves. 
•  So  criminal  a  disposition  could  not  but  occasion  a  still  greater 
impairing  of  truth.  And  really  every  thing  degenerated  more  and 
more  every  day.  The  probation  of  the  disciples,  and  the  oath  of  an 
inviolable  secrecy,  being  very  remarkable  practices,  were  perpetuated 
with  great  exactness.  The  ceremonial  part  easily  supports  itself  in  all 
religions,  and  is  often  embellished  rather  than  diminished,  because  it  is 
of  no  importance  to  the  passions,  which  it  never  disturbs,  and  sometimes 
really  indulges.  It  was  not  with  truth  and  instruction  as  with  the 
ceremonial.  They  were  disfigured  from  age  to  age,  sometimes  through 
the  ignorance  of  the  priests,  sometimes  by  their  averice,  but  principally 
by  their  fondness  for  systematic  reveries,  with  which  the  most  subtil 
among  them  tried  to  explain  the  symbolical  writing  ;  and  of  which 
they  were  much  fonder  than  of  a  few  plain  and  over  simple  truths, 
which  their  predecessors  were  contented  to  teach  them. 

Therefore  danger  and  fear  first  gave  birth  to  the  secrecy  of  the 
Egyptian  instructions,  and  have  converted  the  practices,  of  the  ancient 
ceremonial  of  the  public  religion,  into  so  many  mysteries,  to  the 
knowledge  of  which  none  could   be  admitted  but  such  as  had   given 


THE  ANCIENT  EGYPTIANS.  77 

proofs  of  a  profound  respect  for  the  objects  of  religion,  of  a  perfection 
which  common  men  could  not  attain,  and  of  an  unconquerable  tacitur- 
nity. But  then  those  who  were  initiated  thought  themselves  of  a  class 
superior  to  the  rest  of  men,  and  their  condition  appeared  worthy  the 
envying.  The  priest  being  sure  of  the  discretion  of  their  disciples, 
might  very  well  acknowledge  to  them  the  grossness  of  the  meaning 
which  the  people  annexed  to  these  symbols.  But  their  shameful  con- 
nivance suffered  error  to  get  so  much  ground,  that  the  piety  of  the 
initiated  themselves  sunk  into  a  mere  ceremonial ;  and  the  small 
remains  of  truths,  which  subsisted  amongst  so  many  fadulous  stories, 
remained  there  stifled  as  it  were,  and  without  any  useful  effect.  The 
priests  themselves  out-did  the  popular  superstitions  ;  and  out  of  custom, 
and  from  interested  views  preserved  the  preparatory  ceremonies,  and 
the  religion  of  silence,  that  gave  the  people  a  Mgh  notion  of  the  min- 
isters, and  of  their  learning. 

I  have  given  the  literal  translation  of  most  of  the  terms  made  use  of 
in  these  mysteries.  Neither  the  Greeks  nor  the  Romans  understood  the 
meaning  of  them,  because  they  are  Phenician.  The  very  name  mys- 
tery being  also  a  Phenician  word,  which  signifies  a  veil,  an  invelope- 
ment,*  we  are,  on  this  very  account,  authorized  to  look  out  in  the  Cha- 
nanean  language  for  the  meaning  of  the  other  terms  made  use  of  in 
the  mysteries.  But  if  the  terms  used  in  the  Eleusinian  feasts  shall  per- 
fectly concur  with  the  sense  I  have  ascribed  to  the  pieces  that  were 
most  in  use  in  the  symbolical  writing  and  ceremonies,  the  result  will 
evidently  be,  that  the  figures  originally  appointed  to  instruct  the  people 
have  been  converted  into  so  many  imaginary  gods,  and  that  we  have 
obtained  the  true  original  of  allthese  inhabitants  of  the  poetical  heaven. 

The  Ceres  of  Sicily  and  Eleusis  is  no  other  than  the  Egyptian  Isis, 
brought  intothose  places  by  Phenician  merchants,  who  made  themselves 
rich  by  transporting  the  corn  of  Lower  Egypt  into  the  places  whither  the 
scarcity  of  provisions  drew  them,  and  generally  on  the  different  coasts  of 
the  Mediterranean,  where  they  had  offices,  and  establishments.  The 
ceremonial  of  the  rural  feasts  had  in  their  hands  taken  a  turn  some- 
what different.  The  mother  of  harvests  there  lamented  her  daughter, 
instead  of  bewailing  her  husband,  as  the  Egyptian  ritual  would  have  it. 
This  excepted,  the  ground  and  intention  were  the  same.f 

mistar,  et mistor,  velamen,  absconsio,  laiibulum.  Psl.  10  :  Isa.  4  : 6- 


tCicero,  on  the  "Nature  of  the  Gods,  makes  the  following  remarks  upon  this  subject; 
•'  The  sovereignty  and  power  over  the  earth  is  the  portion  of  a  god,  to  whom  we,  a« 
well  as  the  Greeks,  have  given  a  name  that  denotes  riches  ;  in  Latin  Dis,  in  greek  Flu- 


78  DOGMAS    AND   CUTOMS   OF 

The  feasts  instituted  in  honor  of  Ceres  were  called  Thesmophoria, 
whose  principal  parts  may  be  reduced  to  three,  viz.  the  preparations  the 
processio7is,  and  the  autopsia,  or  the  sight  of  truth. 

The  preparations,  the  long  enumeration  of  which  may  be  read  in 
Meursius,  (Grcccia  Feriata,)  had  for  their  object  the  frugality,  chastity 
and  innor.ence  that  were  necessary  to  the  worshippers.  The  proces- 
sions consisted  in  the  carriage  of  the  sacred  baskets,  wherein  they 
inclosed  a  child  and  a  golden  serpent,  a  van,  grains,  cakes,  and  all  the 
other  symbols  of  which  we  have  made  the  enumeration  in  another 
place. 

If  in  the  feasts  of  Ceres  or  Isis,  men  carried  to  an  extravagant 
excess  the  form  of  the  gestures  and  situations,  the  scrupulous  recitals 
of  the  set-forms  of  prayers,  the  length  of  the  vigils,  outward  purity, 
abstinence,  the  forbearance  of  all  pleasures,  and  the  shunning  all  man- 
ner of  distraction  ;  it  is  because  the  whole  of  religion  was  reduced  to 
these  outward  practices.  Those  who  observed  them  knew  neither  the 
motive  nor  the  purport  or  destination  of  them.  It  was  no  longer  any 
but  an  artificial  devotion,  or  the  skeleton  of  the  ancient  religion.  But 
any  upright  unprejudiced  mind  will  easily  discern  in  them  the  inten- 
tions of  the  first  founders,  who  knew  the  full  value  of  rule,  the  beauty 
of  order,  and  the  benefit  of  recollection, 

A  long  description  of  all  the  purifications  and  other  ceremonies  that 
filled  up  the  first  of  the  nine  days  of  devotion  consecrated  to  Ceres, 
would  have  tired  out  my  readers,  and  is  no  part  of  my  plan,  which 
chiefly  aims  at  obtaining  the  origin  of  these  establishments.  It  will 
be  the  same  with  the  long  procession  formerly  made  from  Athens  to 
Eleusis,  and  with  the  several  marches  peculiar  to  each  of  the  nine 
days.  The  Greeks  had  built  the  particulars  of  this  minute  ceremo- 
nial upon  the  little  adventures  that  composed  the  wonderful  story  of 
the  migration  of  Ceres  into  their  country. 

But  this  my  reader  is  acquainted  with.     What  was  carried  in  the 


ton,  because  all  things  arise  from  the  earth  and  return  to  it.  He  forced  away  Proserpine, 
in  Greek  called  Persephone,  by  which  the  poets  mean  the  seed  of  corn  ;  from  whence 
their  fiction  of  Ceres,  the  mother  of  Proserpine,  seeking  for  her  daughter,  who  was 
hid  from  her.  She  is  called  Ceres,  which  is  the  same  as  Geres,  a  gerendis  frugibus, 
from  bearing  fruit,  the  first  letter  of  the  word  being  altered  after  the  manner  of  the 
Greeks  ;  for  by  them  she  is  called  Demeter,  the  same  as  Gemeter,"  that  is  mother 
earth." 

Pluche  derives  Persephone  thus,  from  —  peri,  fruit,  com,  and  —  saphan,  to  hide, 
comes persephoneh,  the  corn  lost. 

It  may  be  remarked,  that  the  flambeau  or  torch  which  Ceres,  according  to  the  fable 
is  said  to  have  carried  night  and  day  in  search  of  her  daughter  Proserpine,  is  a  symbol 
of  the  lost  sun,  without  whose  aid  no  fruit  or  corn  could  oe  found  or  produced. — Edit 


THE    ANCIENT  EOYPTIANi.  79 

feasts  of  Ceres  at  Eleusis,  is  the  same  that  was  carried  in  the  feasts  of 
Isis.  Let  us,  therefore,  pass  on  to  the  explication  of  the  autopsia, 
or  the  manifestation  of  truth,  which  was  in  a  manner  the  last  act  of 
this  representation,  and  was  the  whole  purport  of  the  mysteries.  After 
a  horrid  darkness,  lightnings,  thunder  claps,  and  an  imitation  of  what 
is  most  shocking  in  nature,  the  serenity  which  at  last  succeeded,  dis- 
covered four  personages  magnificently  dressed,  and  whose  habits  were 
all  mysterious. 

The  most  brilliant  of  all,  and  who  was  especially  called  the  Hie- 
rophant,  or  the  expounder  of  sacred  things,  was  dressed  so  as  to  repre- 
sent the  being  that  governs  the  universe.  The  second  was  the  flambeau 
bearer,  and  had  relation  to  the  sun.  The  third,  who  was  called  the 
adorer,  and  who  kept  near  an  altar,  represented  the  moon.  The  fourth 
was  called  the  messenger  of  the  gods,  or  Mercury,  which  corresponds 
to  the  Egyptian  Anubis,  with  his  dog's  head  and  measare  of  the  Nile, 
accompanied  by  two  serpents,  and  is  nothing  but  the  wholesome  advice 
which  the  dog-star  timely  gives  to  men,  to  make  off,  at  the  increase  of 
the  waters,  and  thereby  secure  their  subsistence. 

Nothing  could  be  better  contrived  than  these  magnificent  ceremonies 
whereby  the  Egyptians  incessantly  recalled  to  the  minds  of  the  assis- 
tants the  belief  of  the  first  men  concerning  the  judgment  of  God,  and 
the  hopes  which  are  to  quiet  the  minds  of  the  just  at  the  approach  of 
death. 

What  an  indestructible  tradition  attended  with  constant  practices  had 
been  able  to  preserve  of  the  ancient  doctrine,  proved  at  last  so  very 
opposite  to  the  popular  notions,  that  the  priests  thought  themselves 
under  the  necessity  of  using  much  circumspection,  and  of  having 
recourse  not  only  to  the  trial  of  their  desciples,  but  also  to  the  oath  of 
secrecy.  The  reason  of  the  priests  themselves  went  astray  in  this  laby- 
rinth of  obscure  signs  and  mysterious  practices.  Then  came  on  systems. 
One  looked  out  among  all  this  apparatus  of  ceremonies  and  fables  for  a 
complete  set  of  physics. 

Another  tried  to  find  out  a  complete  body  of  moral  and  instructive 
maxims,  under  the  color  of  the  most  scandalous  fables.  Others 
imagined  they  had  found  the  most  profound  metaphysics  therein. — 
Nor  does  the  simplicity  of  the  Egyptian,  appear  by  much  so  shocking 
as  the  sublime  nonsense  of  a  Platonic,  who  sees  Monades  and  Triades 
every  where ;  who,  in  a  figure  of  Isis  exposed  in  the  middle  of 
an  assembly  of  husbandmen,  finds  the  arehetpye  world,  the  intel- 
lectual world,  and  the  sensible  world ;  or   who  seeks  in  the  feet  of  a 


80  DOGMAS  AND  CUSTOMS  Of 

goat  the  picture  of  universal  nature ;  or  who  finds  out  in  the  horn  of  an 
ox  the  efficacy  of  the  impressions  of  his  imaginary  genii. 

Thus  the  learned,  from  a  habit  of  diving  into  matters,  and  of  look- 
ing out  for  extraordinary  explications,  have  perplexed  a  subject  of  itself 
very  simple. 

A  few  regular  assemblies  excepted,  in  which  by  public  authority 
were  preserved  some  footsteps  of  truth  together  with  some  ancient  cus- 
toms, the  whole  went  on  from  bad  to  worse,  from  the  liberty  of  embel- 
ishments  and  interpretations.  The  gods  were  multiplied  in  the  popu- 
lar discourses  as  much  as  the  symbols,  and  even  in  proportion  to  the 
different  names  given  one  and  the  same  symbol.  Oftentimes  the  minu- 
test equivocations,  proceeding  from  a  variety  in  the  pronunciation,  the 
diversity  of  dresses  of  the  same  figure,  nay  a  bare  change  of  place,  a 
trifle  added  or  retrenched,  gave  birth  to  anew  god. 

We  may  see  in  Plutarch's  treatise,  but  above  all  in  Eusebius's 
Evangelical  Preparation,  the  strange  variety  of  adventures  and  employ- 
ments which  the  Africans,  the  Phenicians,  and  the  Phrygians  attributed 
to  the  same  gods.  The  celestial  court  was  not  the  same  in  Egypt  as  in 
Greece.  In  Egypt  it  was  Osiris  that  gave  light  to  the  world.  In 
Greece  Osiris  or  Jupiter  was  freed  from  that  care.  The  sceptre  and 
thunderbolt  were  lefl  to  him  ;  but  the  chariot  of  the  day  was  given  to 
Horus  or  Apollo,  who  in  his  quality  of  symbol  of  the  rural  works 
bore  by  way  of  abbreviation  the  marks  of  the  situation  of  the  sun,  or 
the  characteristic  of  the  season. 

Jupiter  could  neither  do  every  thing,  nor  be  every  where.  Lieu- 
tenants were  then  given  him,  each  with  separate  districts.  Every  thing 
assumed  a  settled  form.  The  histories  of  the  gods  were  composed  ; 
and  by  attributing  to  them  what  each  nation  in  particular  was  pleased 
to  publish  on  their  account ;  by  adding  thereto  the  histories  of  the 
ministers  of  the  temples,  and  those  of  the  kings  who  liad  favored  their 
worship  ;  but  chiefly  by  excusing  the  disorders  of  women  on  account 
of  the  pretended  disguises  of  these  gods  possessed  with  their  charms  j 
they  formed  that  monstrous  lump,  of  mythology,  in  which  it  is  no  won- 
der that  we  find  no  sense,  no  coherency,  no  order  of  place  or  time,  nor 
any  kind  of  regard  either  to  reason  or  good  manners.  Though  the 
major  part  of  these  fabulous  recitals  be  utterly  extravagant ;  yet  as  they 
have  made  part  of  the  strange  theology  of  our  forefethers,  men  have  at 
all  times  endeavored  to  find  out  the  true  origin  of  them.  I  have  ven 
tured  my  own  conjectures  on  the  same  subject  ;  because  they  appeared 
to  me  to  amount  ne-arly  to  a  certainty,  and  the  whole  might  be  unravelled 


THB    ANCIENT    EGYPTIANS.  81 

with  no  less  decency  than  benefit.  It  is  no  longer  so  with  regard  to  the 
minute  particulars  of  these  extravagances.  The  collection  of  them 
would  be  the  matter  of  very  large  volumes  ;  and  there  is  indeed  no 
subject  upon  which  it  will  be  more  lawful  to  set  bounds  to  one's  know- 
ledge. 


The  foregoing  article  has  been  very  much  curtailed  as  it  is  intended  to  give  a  full 
account  of  the  ancient  mysteries  from  bishop  Warburton's  Divine  Legation  of  Moses  ; 
in  which  the  subject  is  treated  of  more  at  large,  and  in  some  respect  evidently  with 
a  better  understanding  of  it  than  the  Abbe  Pluche  possessed. 

The  horrors  exhibited  at  the  commencement  of  the  ceremony  were  intended  to 
represent  the  condition  of  the  wicked  in  another  life,  and  the  closing  scene  portrayed 
the  abode  of  the  blessed  ;  the  miseries  of  Tartarus  and  the  happiness  of  Elysium  were 
contrasted  ;  and  being  pronounced  by  holy  priests,  in  whom  the  vulgar  in  barbarous 
ages  placed  impUcit  confidence,  to  be  a  true  picture  of  what  actually  takes  place  in  a 
future  state  of  existence,  must  have  produced  a  most  powerful  effect. 

This  scene  is  imitated  in  the.  royal  arch  degree  of  masonry,  originally  with  the 
same  view  as  the  archetype  ;  and  as  in  the  original  mysteries,  it  forms  the  last  act  or 
degree  of  ancient  masonry.  The  candidates,  are  kept  in  the  dark  by  beinghoodwinked ; 
thunder  and  lightning  are  represented  by  the  firing  of  pistols,  rolhng  cannon  balls,  etc. 
In  the  conclusion,  the  aspirants  are  brought  to  light,  and  presented  to  what  is  called 
the  grand  council,  consisting  of  three  personages  denominated  high  priest,  king,  and 
the  holy  scribe  ;  on  whose  decorations  some  hundred  dollars  are  expended,  in  order 
duly  to  prepare  them  to  sustain  the  exalted  characters  allotted  to  them.  These  three 
are  the  principal  persons  of  the  drama.  The  fourth,  and  next  in  dignity,  is  styled  the 
captain  of  the  host ;  "  who  is  stationed  at  the  right  hand  of  the  grand  council,  and 
whose  duty  is,  to  receive  their  orders,  and  see  them  duly  executed." 

The  high  priest  corresponds  with  the  hierophant  of  the  mysteries,  the  king  With  the 
flambeau  bearer,  the  sun,  who  was  deemed  the  king  and  governor  of  the  world  ;  the 
holy  scribe  with  Isis,  the  adorer,  hence  the  attribute  holy  appUed  to  him  ;  and  the  cap- 
tain of  the  host,  with  Anubis  Hermes  or  Mercury,  the  "messenger  of  the  gods.  The 
identity  of  these  institutions  cannot  be  mistaken. 

The  Auguries. 

My  readers,  ever  so  little  conversant  in  ancient  history,  may  remember 
to  have  often  seen  the  Romans,  the  Sabines,  the  Hetrurians,  the  Greeks, 
and  many  other  nations,  very  careful  in  never  attempting  any  important 
undertaking,  without  previously  consulting  the  birds,  and  drawing 
favorable  or  ill  consequences,  sometimes  from  the  number  and  kind  of 
the  birds  that  traversed  the  air,  sometimes  from  the  quarter  whence 
they  began  their  flight,  and  the  different  course  they  took.  We  may 
likewise  remember,  that  in  order  not  to  be  obliged  to  wait  long  for  i 
bird  which  chance  may  not  immediately  offer,  the  priests  of  the  fali«i 

U 


82  DOGMAS    AND    CUSTOMS    OF 

deities  had  introduced  the  custom  of  the  sacred  chickens,  brought  into 
the  middle  of  the  assembly  of  the  people  in  a  cage,  for  the  magistrates 
gravely  to  observe  their  ways  and  motion.  They  had  reduced  into  an 
art,  and  refered  to  constant  and  settled  rules,  all  the  consequences  to  be 
drawn  with  regard  to  futurity,  from  the  several  methods  in  which 
these  whimsical  animals  let  fall  or  swallowed  the  food  offered  to  them. 
Have  not  the  priests  of  paganism,  either  out  of  interested  views,  or 
from  an  infatuation  for  these  chimerical  rules,  a  thousand  times  spoiled 
or  put  a  stop  to  the  most  important  and  best  concerted  undertakings, 
out  of  regard  to  a  fowl  that  had  refused  her  meat?  Augustus  and  many 
other  persons  of  understanding,  have  without  any  fatal  consequences 
despised  the  chickens  and  divination.  But  when  the  generals  in  the 
times  of  the  republic  had  miscarried  in  any  enterprise,  the  priest  and 
people  cast  the  whole  blame  of  it  on  the  heedlessness  with  which  the 
sacred  chickens  had  been  consulted,  and  more  commonly  still,  on  the 
general's  having  preferred  his  own  forecast  to  that  of  these  fowls.  Nor 
can  one  indeed  without  some  indignation,  see  these  dangerous  silli- 
nesses continue  in  the  highest  esteem  and  credit  among  people  full  of 
magnanimity,  and  the  greatest  genius  seemingly  making  serious  apol- 
ogies for  them. 

Tully  has  handed  to  us  a  good  saying  of  Cato,  who  declared  that 
one  of  the  most  surprising  things  to  him  was,  how  one  soothsayer 
could  look  another  in  the  lace  without  laughing.  I  do  not  doubt  but 
this  judicious  orator,  when  he  was  discharging  his  functions  as  a 
priest  of  the  auguries,  was  always  ready  te  change  his  countenance 
whenever  he  happened  to  see  any  of  his  colleagues  walking  with  a 
grave  stately  air,  and  lifting  up  the  augural  staff!  He  was  perfectly 
sensible  of  the  vanity  of  these  practices.  Afler  having  observed  in  the 
second  book  of  divinition,  that  the  Romans  had  never  been  concerned  in 
a  matter  of  greater  consequence  than  that  of  the  quarrel  between  Caesar 
and  Pompey,  he  freely  confesses,  that  the  augurs,  aruspices,  and  ora- 
cles, had  never  been  more  frequently  cofisulted ;  but  that  the  answers, 
whose  number  was  endless,  had  not  been  followed  by  the  events  they 
foretold,  or  else  had  been  succeeded  by  such  as  were  quite  contrary. 
However,  Tully,  notwithstanding  this  confession,  which  wholly  demol- 
ishes the  art  of  prediction,  yet  out  of  politic  views  defends  the  practice 
of  it.  He  preferred  leaving  the  people  in  their  error,  to  the  risk  of 
provoking  them,  by  endeavouring  to  free  them  from  a  pernicious  and 
criminal  superstition.* 

•  It  may  b«  presumed  thut  the  rUk  which  Cicero  was  unwilling  to  hazard  in  thi» 


THE   ANCIENT   EGYPTIAN?.  88 

Anciently,  or  at  the  time  of  the  institution  of  the  symbols,  men, 
before  sowing,  or'  planting,  used  to  say;  let  us  first  consult  the  birds. 
Nor  was  there  any  thing  better  understood.  People  were  satisfied 
when  they  had  observed  this  custom  with  care.  These  birds  signified 
the  winds,  the  observation  and  course  of  which  determined  the  propriety 
of  rural  works.  But  men,  in  process  of  time,  very  earnestly  invoked 
the  birds  themselves. 

The  cock  commonly  placed  Ijy  the  side  of  Horus  and  Anubis  or 
Mercury,  very  plainly  signified  what  was  to  be  done  in  the  morning, 
as  the  owl  marked  out  the  assemblies  that  were  to  be  held  in  the  eve- 
ning. Cocks  were  then  made  so  many  new  monitors  foretelling  futu- 
rity ;  and  the  owl  acquired  in  this  matter  a  talent  which  many  people 
earnestly  contend  she  is  still  possessed  of  When  this  bird,  which  is 
an  enemy  to  light,  happens  to  shriek  as  she  passes  by  the  window  of  a 
sick  person,  where  she  perceives  it,  you  never  can  beat  it  out  of  their 
head,  that  this  shrieking,  is  a  foreboding  of  his  end. 

Origin  and  Falsehood  of  the  Sibyls. 

It  is  from  a  sensible  abuse  in  astronomy  or  of  the  custom  of  consult- 
ing certain  stars,  that  the  oracks  of  the  Sibyls  were  introduced.  Har- 
vest has  always  been  the  great  object  of  the  desires  and  attention  of  all 
nations.  In  order  therefore  to  regulate  the  manuring  of  their  lands, 
their  plowing,  sowing,  and  the  other  operations  of  concern  to  the  bulk 
of  society,  men  had  their  eyes  fixed  on  the  virgin  that  bears  the  ear  of 
corn,  and  which  is  the  mark  of  the  time  of  harvest.  They  observed 
how  far  the  sun  was  remote  from  it,  and  on  this  account  they  generally 
used  to  consult  and  have  recourse  to  the  virgin  ;  a  language  as  reasona- 
ble as  the  practice  expressed  by  it.  They  at  first  gave  this  constellation 
the  name  Shibyl  Ergone*  the  reddening  ear  of  corn,  because  it  is 
exactly  the  circumstance  for  which  men  wait  to  begin  their  harvest,  and 
because  their  crop  ripens  when  the  sun  draws  near  this  collection  of 
stars. 

They  afterwards  called  it  sometimes   Sibyl,  sometimes  Erigone, 

case,  was  the  loss  of  popularity,  and  the  emolument  arising  from  the  priestly  office.  Self- 
interest,  in  all  ages  of  the  world,  has  been  the  moving  pnnciple  of  action  with  the  cun- 
ning and  designing,  to  impose  upon  the  credulity  of  ignorance.  Observing  the  feeding 
or  mght  of  birds,  or  inspecting  the  entrails  of  a  bullock,  thereby  to  predict  future  events, 
'v&  not  more  ridiculous,  nor  less  creditable  to  the  understanding  of  the  human  species, 
than  some  practices  that  might  be  mentioned,  which  are  m  vogue  at  the  present 
dizy. —Edit. 

*  From Shibul,  or  Shibolet,  spicts ;  and  from Dan.  6  ;  7.  Er- 
gone purpura.    The  purple  ear  of  corn,  Spica  rubtscens. 


84  DOGMAS    AND    CUSTOMS   OF 

This  name  Erigone  rendered  in  Greek  by  that  of  Erytra,  which  corres- 
ponds to  it,  and  signifies  red,  gave  birth  to  the  Erytrean  Sibyl.  There 
was  certainly  an  advantage  in  consulting  her,  and  her  answers  were 
very  just  to  regulate  husbandry  so  long  as  she  was  taken  for  what  she 
was,  that  is,  for  a  cluster  of  stars  under  which  the  sun  placed  himself  at 
the  time  which  brought  on  harvest,  and  reddened  the  ear  of  corn.  And 
because  the  Egyptian  harvest  did  not  fall  under  that  sign,  but  under 
the  Ram  or  the  Bull,  it  is,  that  Egypt  flocked  to  the  oracles  of  Ammon 
or  of  Apis,  and  had  so  particular  an  affection  for  Isis  with  the  horns 
of  a  heifer,  the  ancient  proclamation  of  their  harvest ;  whereas  all  the 
east  consulted  the  Erytrean  Sibyl,  in  order  to  be  assured  of  a  plentiful 
crop.  This  language  became  the  matter  of  fables.  Our  maid  changed 
from  a  sign  to  a  prophetess,  had  no  doubt  the  most  perfect  knowledge 
of  futurity,  since  people  came  from  all  parts  to  ask  her  questions.  The 
excessive  wickedness  of  mankind  at  last  obliged  her  to  quit  their  abodes, 
to  go,  and  in  the  heavens  take  possession  of  the  place  due  to  her. 
Many  countries  assumed  to  themselves  the  honor  of  having  given  birth 
to  this  sibyl :  nor  would  it  be  a  hard  matter  to  find  seven  instead  of  one. 
All  the  current  predictions,  among  which,  some  strokes  of  the  prophe- 
'cies  addressed  to  the  Hebrews,  are  found,  in  time  passed  for  the  answers 
of  these  sibyls,* 


The  American  reader  should  be  aware  that  the  term  com  is  used  in  England,  as  a 
generic  term  for  all  seeds  that  grow  in  ears.  The  French  word,  here  translated  corn,  is 
bi^,  which  signifies  grain,  wheat ;  ble  de  Terquie  or  d'  Inde,  means  maize,  Indian  com. 
Wheat  as  it  ripens  puts  on  a  reddish  hue :  which  is  not  the  case  with  Indian  corn, 
although  red  ears  are  sometimes  found  among  it.  Grain,  in  EnglisTi,  seems  the  most 
proper  term,  for  the  genus  of  the  difTerent  species. 

In  masonic  lodges,  the  master  is  stationed  in  the  east,  representing  Osiris  the  sun ; 
and  the  senior  warden  in  ihe  west,  representing  Isis  or  Virgo,  the  sign  of  harvest;  his 
duty  is  to  pay  the  craft  their  wages,  which  alludes  metaphorically  to  the  reward 
the  husbandman  receives  in  the  produce  of  his  labor,  when  the  sun  arrives  at  this 
sign.  This  is  indicated  by  a  painting  representing  a  sheaf  of  wheat,  which  is  hung 
back  of  this  officer's  chair.  The  pass  word  of  the  fellow-craft,  at  this  station,  to  enti- 
tle him  to  pay,  is  shibboleth,  the  reddening  ear  of  wheat.  Can  any  thing  more  cqUcIu- 
sively  point  out  the  astronomical  cast  of  free-masonry. 

It  must  have  been  at  a  very  remote  period  when  the  Egyptian  harvest  occurred,  as 
above  stated,  during  the  passage  of  the  sun,  either  under  the  sign  of  the  ram  or  the  bull. 
Volney,  in  his  travels  in  Egypt  and  Syria,  observes : 

"As  the  sun  approaches  the  tropic  of  Capricorn,  the  winds  becomes  variable  and 
t«mpe8tuouB ;  they  most  usually  blow  from  the  north,  the  north-west,  and  west,  in 

♦  See  upon  this  subject  the  excellent  remarks  of  P.  Catrou  on  the  fifth  eclogue  of 
yir^l. 


THE    ANCIENT    EGYPTIANS.  85 

which  points  they  continue  during  the  months  of  December,  January,  and  February, 
which  is  the  winter  season  in  Egypt,  as  well  as  with  us.  The  vapour  of  the  Medeterra- 
nean,  condensed  by  the  coldness  of  the  atmosphere,  descends  in  mists  and  rains." 

Conjuration. 

I  am  still  to  inquire  into  the  origin  of  an  art  far  more  important  than 
all  the  foregoing.  This  is  necromancy,  the  art  of  calling  wp  the  spirits 
of  the  dead,  and  of  making  them  speak.*  The  reader  will  not  be  dis- 
pleased here  to  find  the  key  of  the  occult  languages,  and  to  be  acquainted 
how  magicians  went  about  asking  questions  of  hell,  and  conversing 
with  the  devils. 

A  respect  for  the  human  body  which  was  believed  to  be  destined  for 
a  better  state  to  come,  and  one  day  to  rise  from  the  dust,  induced  the 
first  nations  to  inter  the  dead  in  a  decent  manner,  and  always  to  join  to 
this  melancholy  ceremony,  wishes  and  prayers,  which  were  expres- 
sions or  a  profession  of  their  expectation. 

Funeral  assemblies  were  the  most  frequent,  because  men  died  every 
day,  and  these  meetings  were  repeated  on  every  anniversary.  They 
were  not  only  the  most  common,  but  also  the  most  regular. 

Every  thing  was  simple  in  the  ancient  feasts.  Men  met  upon  some 
high  and  remarkable  place.  They  made  there  a  small  pit,  wherein  to 
consume  the  entrails  of  the  victims  by  fire.  They  made  the  blood  to 
flow  into  the  same  pit.  Part  of  the  flesh  was  presented  to  the  ministers 
of  the  sacrifice.  They  boiled  the  rest  of  the  oflfering  immolated,  and 
eat  it,  sitting  near  the  fire.  By  degrees  they  swerved  from  this  sim- 
plicity. 

What  had  been  approved  on  some  important  occasion,  afterwards 
passed  into  custom,  and  became  a  law.  The  number,  the  characters,  and 
the  histories  of  the  objects  which  men  took  for  gods,  afterwards  gave 
birth  to  a  thousand  varieties,  which  appeared  very  important  rites  and 
necessary  precautions.  Whoever  should  have  neglected  one  single 
point  of  the  ceremonial  prescribed,  had  nothing  less  than  the  plague  or 
famine  to  apprehend.  Whenever  the  gods  in  that  case  were  contented 
with  only  sending  a  transitory  tempest  or  some  furious  beast  among- 
them,  the  fault  was  reckoned  very  cheaply  atoned  for.  Each  feast  hav- 
ing its  proper  service  and  decorations  had  a  peculiar  name.     It  was  not 

*  The  science  of  communing  with  departed  spirits,  supposed  to  have  been  lost  for 
many  centuries,  is  believed,  by  the  Swedenborgians,  to  have  been  communicated  to 
the  founder  of  their  sect,  Emmanuel  Swedenborg.  He  asserts,  that  in  the  year  1743, 
the  Lord  manifested  himself  to  him  by  a  personal  appearance,  and  at  the  same  time 
opened  his  spiritual  eyes,  so  that  he  was  enabled  constantly  to  see  and  converse  with 
spirits  and  angels.— Jfedi/. 


bt)  DOGMAS    AND    CUSTOMS    OT 

thus  with  the  funeral  assemblies :  nothing  was  changed  in  them.  They 
were  void  of  joy  and  decoration.  Men  went  on  w^ith  practising  what  had 
ever  been  done.  The  families  in  intering  their  dead,  were  accustomed 
to  a  common  rubric  which  was  perpetual.  It  is  then  in  the  service  of 
the  funerals  especially,  that  we  may  again  find  the  principal  of  the  usa- 
ges of  primitive  antiquity.  At  these  solemnities  they  continued  to 
make  a  ditch,  to  pour  out  wine,  oil,  honey,  milk,  or  some  other  liquors  in 
use,  to  shed  the  blood  of  the  victims,*  to  roast  their  flesh,  to  eat  it  in  com- 
mon sitting  round  the  pit  or  hearth,  and  discoursing  of  the  virtues  of  him 
they  came  to  lament.  These  assemblies  continued  to  bear  the  name 
given  to  all  solemn  convenings. 

While  the  other  feasts,  on  account  of  the  diversity  of  the  ceremonies, 
were  called  Saturnalia,  Dionisiaca,  Palilia,  etc.  the  funeral  assemblies 
were  simply  called  the  Manes,^  that  is,  the  covering  or  regulation. 
That  the  Manes  and  the  dead  became  two  synonymous  words,  or  were 
indifferently  used,  one  for  another.  And  as  the  things  which  gave 
names  to  the  feasts,  were  generally  become  the  objects  of  an  extravagant 
worship ;  the  Manes  or  the  dead  became  likewise  the  object  reverenced 
in  the  funeral  ceremonies.  The  strange  facility  with  which  the 
minute  parts  of  the  universe  were  deified,  is  a  hint  to  us  how  the  cus- 
tom was  introduced  of  directing  prayers,  vows,  and  religious  worship 
to  the  dead  whom  they  had  loved,  whose  praises  were  celebrated,  and 
•who  were  thought  to  enjoy  the  most  refined  knowledge,  after  they  had, 
together  with  their  body,  cast  off  the  frailties  of  humanity. 

The  ancient  sacrifices  were  not  only  eucharistical.  In  the  times 
when  the  Most  High  was  as  yet  worshipped,  they  were  looked  upon  as 
an  alliance  contracted  with  him,  and  whereby  they  engaged  themselves 
to  be  faithful  to  him.  I  shall  here  mention  neither  the  reasons  nor  any 
instances  of  it.  The  former  are  palpable,  and  the  scripture  abounds 
with  the  latter. 

All  nations,  when  they  sacrificed  either  to  the  gods  they  had  framed 
to  themselves,  or  to  the  dead  whose  memory  was  dear  to  them,  thought 
they  entered  into  an  alliance,  conversed,  and  familiarly  eat  with  them. 
But  this  familiarity  engrossed  their  thoughts  most  particularly  in  the 
funeral  assemblies,  in  which  they  were  as  yet  full  of  the  memory  of  the 


*Inferimus  tepido  spumantia  cymbia  lacte, 
San^inis  et  sacri  pateras.  iEneid.  5. 

See  the  same  ceremonies  in  the  anniversary  of  Anchises.  Mn.  5. 

t  From manim,  distributiones,  vices,  rtdihis,  solemnitas.    This  name  was 

Siven  to  the  symbolical  figures.    In  particular  it  remained  the  name  of  the  image  of  tho 
ead  person  which  characterized  a  fimeral  assembly; 


THE    ANCIENT    EGYPTIAN«.  87 

persons  whom  they  had  tenderly  loved,  and  who,  as  they  thought,  took 
always  a  great  part  in  the  concerns  of  their  family  and  country. 

We  have  heretofore  observed,  hcrw  cupidity  etnd  ignorance  hav- 
ing rendered  all  men  indifferent  as^  to  justice,  had  led  them  astray  as 
to  the  object  of  their  worship,  and  had  afterwards  converted  every  part 
of  it  into  so  many  means  of  being  relieved  of  in  their  illness,  instructed 
in  futurity,  and  provided  all  proper  means  to  succeed  in  all  their  under- 
takings. Every  object  in  nature  spoke  to  them.  The  birds  in  the 
heaven,  the  serpents  and  other  animals  on  the  earth,  a  simple  rod  in 
the  hand  of  their  minister,  and  all  the  instruments  of  religion,  were  so 
many  oracles  and  prophetical  signs.  They  read  the  stars,  and  the  gods 
spoke  or  revealed  their  intentions  to  them  from  one  end  cf  nature  to  the 
other.  This  covetousness  and  gross  religion,  which  applied  to  the  gods 
merely  to  ask  them  questions  in  matters  of  interest,  was  no  less  inquisi- 
tive and  thought  it  had  a  right  to  be  still  better  served  in  the  funeral 
sacrifices  than  in  all  the  rest.  Men  in  these  ceremonies  thought  they 
had  to  deal  with  affectionate  gods,  which,  on  account  of  the  concern  they 
still  had  in  the  prosperity  of  their  family,  could  not  but  inform  them  in 
time,  of  whatever  might  be  of  service  or  detrimental  to  them.  The 
whole  apparatus  of  the  funerals  was  then  again  interpreted  in  the  same 
manner,  as  that  of  the  other  feasts,  and  the  whole  was  converted  into 
so  many  methods  of  divination. 

The  ceremonies  of  the  Mamies,  though  they  were  but  the  bare  practi- 
ces of  the  assemblies  of  the  primitive  times,  being  in  every  respect  dif- 
ferent from  those  observed  in  the  other  feasts,  appeared  so  many  differ, 
ent  methods  of  conversing  with  the  dead,  and  of  obtaining  the  desired 
information  from  them.  Who  then  could  doubt  but  it  was  in  order 
familiarly  to  converse  with  their  ancient  friends,  that  men  sat  down 
round  a  pit,  into  which  they  had  thrown  the  oil,  the  flour,  and  the  blood 
of  the  victim  they  had  killed  to  their  honor  ?  How  could  it  be  doubted, 
but  that  this  pit  so  different  from  the  altars  set  up  and  pointing  towards 
heaven,  was  a  suitable  ceremony,  and  peculiarly  belonging  to  the  dead  ? 
The  dead  evidently  took  pleasure  in  these  repasts,  and  especially  in 
what  was  poured  into  the  pit  for  them.  Doubtless  they  came  to  con- 
sume the  Jioney  and  the  liquors  which  disappeared  from  thence ;  and  if 
their  friends  were  contented  with  offering  them  liquors  only,  no  doubt  it 
was  because  their  condition  as  dead  persons  would  not  admid  of  gross 
foods.  Men  were  then  so  extravagantly  credulous  as  to  believe  that 
the  phantoms  came  to  drink  and  voluptuously  to  relish  these  liquors, 


88  DOGMAS    AND    CUSTOMS    OF 

while  their  relations  feasted  on  the  rest  of  the  sacrifice  around  the  pit. 
After  the  repast  in  common  between  the  dead  and  the  living,  came 
the  interrogation,  or  particular  calling  up  of  the  soal,  for  which  the 
sacrifice  was  appointed,  and  who  was  to  explain  her  mind.  Every 
body  is  sensible  that  an  inconvenience  attended  the  ceremony,  it  being 
to  be  apprehended  that  the  dead  might  crowd  about  the  ditch,  to  get  a 
share  in  this  effusion  w^hich  they  were  so  very  greedy  of,  and  leave 
nothing  for  the  dear  soul,  for  whom  the  feast  was  designed.  This  was 
provided  against.  The  relations  made  two  ditches.  In  one  they  threw 
in  wine,  honey,  water  and  flour,  to  amuse  the  generality  of  the  dead  :  in 
the  other  they  poured  out  the  blood  of  the  victim  then  to  be  eaten  in 
common  by  the  family.  They  sat  upon  the  brink  of  the  latter,  and  with 
their  swords  near  them,  they  kept  off  by  the  sight  of  these  instruments, 
the  crowd  of  dead  who  had  no  concern  in  their  affairs.  They  on  the 
contrary  invited  and  called  up  by  his  name  the  deceased,  whom  they 
had  a  mind  to  cheer  and  consult.  They  desired  him  to  draw  near. 
The  dead  seeing  that  there  was  there  no  security  for  them,  flocked  and 
swarmed  round  the  ditch,  the  access  to  which  was  free,  and  politely 
abandoned  the  other  to  the  privileged  soul,  who  had  a  right  to  the  offer- 
ing, and  who  knew  the  bottom  of  the  affairs  about  which  she  was  to  be 
consulted. 

The  questions  made  by  the  living  were  distinct  and  easy  to  be  under- 
stood. The  answers,  on  the  contrary,  though  very  certain,  were  nei- 
ther so  quick,  nor  so  easy  to  be  unraveled.  But  the  priests  who  had 
been  taught  in  their  labyrinth  how  to  understand  the  voice  of  the  gods 
the  answers  of  the  planets,  the  language  of  the  birds,  the  serpents  and 
the  mutest  instruments,  easily  understood  the  dead,  and  became  their 
interpreters.  They  reduced  it  into  an  art,  whose  most  necessary  point 
and  what  best  suited  the  condition  of  the  dead,  was  silence  and  darkness. 
They  retired  inlo  the  deeper  caves  :  they  fasted  and  lay  upon  the  skins 
of  the  sacrificed  beasts.  When  they  waked  or  after  a  watch,  which, 
was  fitter  to  turn  their  brains  than  to  reveal  hidden  things  to  them, 
they  gave  for  answers  the  thought  or  dream  which  had  most  affected 
them.  Or  they  opened  certain  books  appointed  for  that  use:*  and  the 
Jirst  words  which  offered  at  the  opening  of  them,  were  precisely  those 

♦  A  similar  custom  is  still  practised  by  some  superstitious  people ;  who,  whenm  doubt 
what  they  ought  to  determine  in  particular  circumstances,  open  the  bible,  and  the  firtt 
passage  that  strikes  their  eyes,  is  expected  to  intimate  the  proper  course.— JE'di^ 


THE    ANCIENT    EGYPTIANS.  ^ 

of  the  prophecy  expected :  or  in  short,  the  priest  and  sometimes  the 
person  himself  who  came  to  consult,  took  care,  at  going  out  of  the  cave, 
to  listen  with  attention  to  the  very  first  words  he  could  possibly  hear, 
from  what  part  soever  they  proceeded,  and  they  were  to  him  in  lieu  of 
an  answer.  These  words  for  certain  had  no  manner  of  relation  or  con- 
nexion with  the  business  in  hand ;  but  they  were  turned  so  many  waysi 
and  the  sense  of  them  so  violently  wrested,  that  they  must  needs  have 
given  way  some  small  matter.  Commonly  enough  they  had  in  appear- 
ance some  relation  to  it.  They  sometimes,  instead  of  the  foregoing 
methods,  had  recourse  to  what  they  called  sories,  viz :  a  number  of 
tickets  on  which  there  were  some  words  written  at  random,  or  some 
verses  already  current  or  newly  coined.  These  tickets  being  throwri 
into  an  urn,  they  were  stirred  very  well  together,  and  the  first  ticket 
that  was  drawn,  was  gravely  given  to  the  distressed  family,  as  the 
means  to  make  them  easj-.  Methods  of  divination  were  multiplied  with- 
out end.  The  whole  of  religion  was  almost  converted  into  so  many 
methods  of  knowing  futurity.  See  the  dissertation  of  Van  dale  upon  the 
heathen  oracles.  See  the  history  of  the  oracles.  This  matter  has  been 
sufficiently  treated  upon  by  the  learned:  it  would  be  needless  to 
resume  it. 

It  is  evident  that  the  practice?  above  mentioned  wefe  extremely  ^i 
every  where  to  spread  this  extravagant  persuasion,  which  is  still  pre- 
served among  the  people,  that  we  may  converse  with  the  dead,  and  that 
they  often  come  to  give  us  advices. 

If  I  can  again  supply  my  readers  with  the  proofs  of  this  custom,  or 
rather  of  this  perverse  abuse  of  the  funeral  ceremonies ;  I  shall,  methinksf 
have  sufficiently  shown,  that  the  opinions  of  men  upon  the  gods,  the 
dead,  and  the  answers  that  may  be  obtained  from  either  of  them,  are 
nothing  but  a  literal  and  gross  interpretation  made  of  very  plain  sigTis, 
and  of  still  plainer  ceremonies,  whose  purport  was  to  express  certain 
truths,  and  to  fillfil  certain  duties. 

Because  all  nations  flocked  to  high  places,  there  to  shed  the  blood 
of  the  victims  into  a  trench,  and  to  converse  with  a  dead  person,  by 
keeping  off*  others  by  the  sight  of  a  sword,  it  is,  that,  scripture  so  often, 
and  in  so  express  a  manner,  forbids  the  Israelites  to  assemble  upon 
high  places,  or,  (.which  was  fre(juently  the  same  thing)  to  hold  their 
assembly  near  th^  blood,  or  to  eat  sitting  round  any  pit  sprinkled  with 
the  blood  of  the  victims.  The  seventy  interpreters  knowing  per- 
fectly,  that  this  was  what  drew  the  people  to  the  high  places,  having 
very  well  translated  this  passage  of  Leviticus,  xix.  26.  and  other  the 

12 


90  DOGMAS    AND    CUSTOMS    OF 

like  by  these  words, ye  shall  not  go  and  eat  upon  the  mountains. 

Here  to  eat  is  the  same  thing  as  to  sacrifice.* 


In  concluding  my  extracts  and  remarks  on  the  interesting  works  of  the  Abb6 
Pluche,  I  will  take  some  notice  of  what  he  says  of  the  dog-days ;  which  are  continually 
recorded  in  Almanacs,  when  probably  neither  the  authors  nor  readers,  know  any  thing 
of  their  origin,  or  the  propriety  or  use  of  their  being  retained  in  such  registers. 

According  to  our  author,  the  rising  of  the  dog-star,  was  generally  accompanied 
with  what  the  Egyptians  called  the  Etesian  northern  wind,  that  continued  to  blow  for 
about  forty  days  in  succession.  When  this  wind  failed  to  occur  at  this  period,  or  was 
too  light  to  be  of  use  in  caysing  the  swelling  of  the  Nile  to  a  sufficient  height,  a  general 
sadness  of  the  people  ensued.  The  probabiUty,  therefore,  is,  that  while  the  inhabitants 
Remained  idle  on  the  high  ground,  watching  the  progress  of  the  inundation,  these  forty 
days  were  passed  very  much,  in  fasting  and  other  acts  of  devotion  to  gain  the  favor  of 
their  gods  in  this  respect.  Indeed  the  author  relates  a  story  that  prevailed  among  the 
Cretians,  that  corroborates  this  opinion ;  which  is,  that  through  the  displeasure  of  the 
gods,  this  wind  was  not  permitted  to  blow  for  a  considerable  time  ;  "  but  after  repeated 
sacrifices,  the  gods  at  length  granted  the  return  of  the  Etesian  wind,  and  its  constant 
blowing,  during  the  forty  days  that  followed  the  rising  of  the  dog  star,  called  the  dog- 
days  ;  which  again  brought  abundance-upon  the  earth."  The  people,  he  says,  in 
another  place,  "  were  warned  to  observe  the  dog-days." 

Volney  remarks  that,  "  about  the  end  of  July,  dnring  all  the  month  of  August,  and 
half  of  September,  the  winds  in  Egypt  remain  constantly  in  the  north,  and  are  moder- 
ate ;  brisker  in  the  day,  however,  and  weaker  at  night." 

The  dog-days,  in  callenders  calculated  for  the  United  States,  are  generally  noted  as 
commencing  on  the  30th  of  July,  and  ending  on  the  tenth  of  September,  making  forty 
two  days. 

It  is  highly  probable  that  the  Roman  Cathohc  Lent  has  grown  out  of  this  ancient 
custom  in  regard  to  the  dog-days ;  accommodated  however,  in  respect  to  the  time  of  its 
observance,  to  the  circumstances  of  countries  differently  situated  to  that  of  Egypt.  Such 
an  essential  change  in  the  usual  habit  of  living,  is,  no  doubt,  very  detrimental  to  health, 
and  probably  causes  the  premature  death  of  thousands  annually.  The  requirement  of 
abstinence  from  meat  on  Fridays  and  Saturdays,  is  founded  upon  the  same  principle. 

A  breach  of  this  rule  of  the  politico-religious  church  of  Rome,  is  placed  in  the  list  of 
damning,  sins,  in^a  ritual  issued,  even  under  the  reign  of  the  Emperor  Napoleon,  with  his 
signature  attached,  ordering  its  observance  by  all  Catholics  throughout  his  dominions. 

Thus  the  fastings  and  mortifications  originally  got  up  to  appease  the  fickle  and  vin- 
dictive gods  of  paganism,  have,  without  the  least  propriety  or  reason,  been  incorporated 
into  the  systems  of 'some  sects  of  professed  Christians. 

By  this  establishment  the  catholic  is  required  to  abstain  from  eating  meat  for  forty 
days,  except  by  special  indulgence  granted  by  a  priest.  Those  therefore,  to  whom  it  is 
inconvenient  to  pay  for  indulgences,  are  under  the  necessity  of  restricting-  themselves 
to  fish  and  vegetable  diet  during  the  above  term. 

♦Masonic  writers  say,  "their  brethren  used  to  meet-  on  the  highest  hills."  This 
declaration  applies  to  the  predecessors  of  freemasons,  but  not  to  the  craft;  whose 
assembhes  were  always  held  in  a  lodge-room,  guarded  by  a  member  at  the  door,  with  a 
drawn  sword. 

The  frst  word  spoken,  on  raising  the  dead  body  of  Hiram,  was  to  be  substituted  for 
the  lost  master  ma8on,s  word,  provided  it  was  not  found  upon  him.  This  idea  is  evi- 
dently copied  from  the  superstitious  practices  mentioned  above,  at  the  funeral  anniv«r- 
•uneB.—Edit. 


THK    ANCIFKT    EOYPTIANS.  91 

I  will  here  observe,  that  personages  which  Mr.  Pluche  declares  to  be  myihological, 
never  having  had  existence,  will  be  considered  by  other  writers,  quoted  in  this  work,  as 
real  historical  persons.  Some  of  his  hypotheses  in  other  respects,  may  also  be  contrary 
to  the  doctrines  of  authors  here  cited.I  shall  generally  pass  such  discrepances  without 
comment,  leaving  the  reader  to  form  his  own  opinion. 

To  Abbe  Pluche' s  account  of  Egypt,  I  will  add  a  few  extracts  from  a  recent  and 
very  valuable  work,  entitled,  '*  A  View  of  Ancient  and  Modem  Egypt,  by  the  Rev. 
jWichael  Russell,  L  L.  D. 

Literature  and  Science  of  the  Ancient  Egyptians. 

In  Egypt  the  use  of  the  hieroglyph  was  not  entirely  superseded  by 
the  invention  of  an  alphabet.  For  many  purposes  connected  with  reli- 
gion, and  even  with  the  more  solemn  occupations  of  civil  life,  the  em- 
blematical style  of  composition  continued  to  enjoy  a  preference ;  on  a 
principle  similar  to  that  which  disposes  the  Jew  to  perform  his  worship 
in  Hebrew,  and  the  Roman  Catholic  in  Latin.  There  appears  also  to 
have  been  a  mixed  language  used  by  the  priests,  partaking  at  once  of 
hieroglyphics  and  of  alphabetical  characters ;  which,  in  allusion  to  the 
class  of  men  by  whom  it  was  employed,  was  denominated  hieratic. 
Hence,  in  process  of  time,  the  Egyptians  found  themselves  in  posses- 
sion of  three  different  modes  of  communication— the  hieroglyphic,  pro- 
perly so  called,  the  hieratic,  and  the  demotic  or  common.  This  dis- 
tinction is  clearly  recognized  in  the  following  well-known  passage 
extracted  from  the  works  of  Clemens  Alexandrinus. 

Those  who  are  educated  among  the  Egyptians,  says  he,  learn  first 
of  all  the  method  of  writing  called  the  epistolographic  ;  secondly,  the 
hieratic,  which  the  sacred  scribes  employ ;  and,  lastly,  the  mast  myste- 
rious description,  the  hieroglyphic,  of  which  there  are  two  kinds, — the 
one  denoting  objects,  in  a  direct  manner,  by  means  of  the  initial  sounds 
of  words  ^  the  other  is  symbolical.  Of  the  symbolical  signs  one  class 
represents  objects  by  exhibiting  a  likeness  or  picture ;  another,  by  a 
metaphorical  or  less  complete  resemblance  ;  and  a  third,  by  means  of 
certain  allegorical  enigmas.  Thus, — to  give  an  example  of  the  three 
methods  in  the  symbolical  division, — when  they  wish  to  represent  an 
object  by  the  first,  they  fix  upon  a  distant  resemblance :  such  as  a  circle, 
when  they  want  to  i!idicate  the  sun,  and  a  crescent  when  their  pur- 
pose is  to  denote  the  moon.  The  second,  or  metaphorical,  allows  a 
considerable  freedom  in  selecting  the  emblem,  and  may  be  such  as  only 
suggests  the  object  by  analogous  qualities.  For  instance,  when  they 
record  the  praises  of  kings  in  their  theological  fables,  they  exhibit  them 
in  connexion  with  figurative  allusions  which  shadow  forth  their  good 


92  DOGMAS    AND    CUSTOMS    OF 

actions  and  benign  dispositions.  In  this  case  the  representation  is  not 
direct  but  metaphorical.  Of  the  third  method  of  symbolical  writing 
the  following  will  serve  as  an  example  :  they  assimilate  the  oblique 
course  of  the  planets  to  the  body  of  a  serpent,  but  that  of  the  sim  to  the 
figure  of  a  scarabaeus. 

In  reference  to  the  knowledge  actually  acquired  of  the  literature  of 
ancient  Egypt  by  means  of  the  late  discoveries  in  hieroglyphics,  we 
are  not  entitled  to  speak  in  boastful  or  very  confident  language.  The 
wasting  hand  of  time,  which  has  rendered  its  effects  visible  even  on  the 
Pyramids,  has  entirely  destroyed  the  more  perishable  materials  to  which 
the  sages  of  Thebes  and  the  magicians  of  Memphis  may  have  commit- 
ted the  science  of  their  several  generations.  We  know,  too,  that  the  big- 
otry of  ignorance  and  of  superstition  accomplished,  in  many  cases^ 
what  the  flood  of  years  had  permitted  to  escape ;  for  which  reason  we 
must  not  estimate  the  extent  of  acquirement  among  the  wise  men  of 
Egypt  by  the  scanty  remains  of  their  labors  which  have  been  casually 
rescued  from  accident  and  violence.  From  DiodorusSiculus  we  receive  the 
information  that  in  the  tomb  of  Osymandias  were  deposited  twenty  thou- 
sand volumes, — a  number  which  is  reduced  by  Manetho  to  three  thousand 
five  hundred  and  twenty-five, — all  of  which,  on  account  of  their  anti- 
quity or  the  importance  of  their  subjects,  were  ascribed  to  Thoth  ox  Her- 
mes, who,  it  is  well  knoAvn,  united  in  his  character  the  intelligence  of 
^,  divinity  with  the  patriotism  of  a  faithful  minister. 

Of  these  works,  which  unquestionably  belong  to  a  very  remote 
antiquity,  we  have  a  short  account  supplied  by  a  Christian  bishop, 
Clemens  of  Alexandria,  who  appears  to  have  devoted  much  attention 
to  the  learning  of  the  ancient  Egyptians.  "  In  that  country,"  he  tells 
us,  **  every  individual  cultivates  a  diflferent  branch  of  philosophy, — an 
arrangement  which  applies  chiefly  to  their  holy  ceremonies.  In  such 
processions  the  singer  occupies  the  first  place,  carrying  in  his  hand  an 
instrument  of  music.  He  is  said  to  be  obliged  to  learn  two  of  the  books 
of  Hermes  ;  one  of  which  contains  hymns  addressed  to  the  gods,  and 
fKe  other  the  rules  by  which  a  prince  ought  to  govern.  Next  comes  the 
Horoscopus,  holding  a  clock  and  the  branch  of  a  palm-tree,  which  are 
the  symbols  of  astrology.  He  must  be  completely  master  of  the  four 
Books  of  Hermes  wliich  treat  of  that  science.  One  of  these  explains 
tj^e  order  of  the  fixed  stars  ;  the  second,  the  motion  and  phases  of  the 
sun  and  moon  :  the  other  two  determine  the  times  of  their  periodical 
rising.  Then  follows  the  Hierogrammatist  or  sacred  scribe,  with  two 
feathers  on  his  head,  and,  a  book  and  ruler  in  his  hand,  to  which  are 
added  the  instruments  of  writing,  some  jnfe  and  a  feed.     He  must  know 


THE    ANCIENT    EGYPTIANS.  ^^ 

what  are  called  hieroglyphics,  and  those  branches  of  science  which 
belong  to  cosmography,  geography,  and  astronomy,  especially  the  laws 
of  the  sun,  moon,  and  five  planets  ;  he  must  be  acquainted  with  the  ter- 
ritorial distribution  of  Egypt,  the  course  of  the  Nile,  the  furniture  of 
the  temples  and  of  all  consecrated  places.  After  these  is  an  officer 
denominated  Stolistes,  who  bears  a  square-rule  as  the  emblem  of  justice, 
and  the  cup  of  libations.  His  charge  includes  every  thing  which 
belongs  to  the  education  of  youth,  as  well  as  to  sacrifices,  first-fruits, 
hymns,  prayers,  religious  pomps,  festivals,  and  commemorations  ;  the 
rules  for  which  are  contained  in  ten  books.  This  functionary  is  suc- 
ceeded by  one  called  the  prophet,  who  displays  in  his  bosom  a  jar  or 
vessel,  meant  for  carrying  water, — a  symbol  thought  to  represent  the 
deity,  but  which,  more  probably,  had  a  reference  to  the  sacred  char- 
acter of  the  Nile.  He  is  attended  by  persons  bearing  bread 
cut  into  slices.  The  duty  of  the  prophet,  [as  president  of  the  mys- 
teries, according  to  Volney's  citation  of  this  passage,]  made  it  neces- 
sary for  him  to  be  perfectly  acquainted  with  the  ten  books  called  sacer- 
dotal, and  which  treat  of  the  laws  of  the  gods,  and  of  the  whole 
discipline  of  the  priesthood.  He  also  presides  over  the  distribu- 
tion of  the  sacred  revenue  ;  that  is,  the  income  arising  from  the 
performance  of  pious  rites,  and  dedicated  to  the  support  of  religious 
institutions.  Hence,  there  are  forty-two  books  of  Hermes,  the  know- 
ledge of  which  is  absolutely  necessary  ;  of  these,  thirty-six,  containing 
the  whole  philosophy  of  the  Egyptians,  are  carefully  studied  by  the 
persons  whom  we  have  mentioned  ;  and  the  remaining  six  are  learned 
by  the  Pastophori,  or  inferior  priests,  as  they  belong  to  anatomy,  to 
nosology,  to  instruments  of  surgery,  to  pharmacy,  to  the  diseases  of 
the  eye,  and  to  the  maladies  of  women."  (Clemen.  Alexandrin.  Strom. 
lib.  vi.  p.  633.) 

This  distribution  of  the  sciences  does  not  enable  us  to  determine  either 
the  principles  on  which  they  were  founded  or  the  extent  to  which  they 
were  pursued.  We  possess  a  better  criterion  in  the  perfection  to  which 
the  people  of  Egypt,  at  a  very  early  period,  had  carried  some  of  those 
arts  which  have  a  close  dependence  upon  scientific  deductions.  The 
prodigies  of  Thebes  could  not  have  been  accomplished  by  a  nation 
ignorant  of  mathematics  and  chymistry  ;  nor  could  the  pyramids, 
the  obelisks,  and  the  monolithic  temples,  which  still  meet  the  eye  of  the 
traveler  in  almost  every  spot  between  Elephantine  and  the  mouths  of 
the  Nile,  have  been  raised  without  the  aid  of  such  mechanical  powers 
as  have  their  origin  in  the  calculations  of  philosophy. — (See  p.  133, 
parper's  Ed.) 


94  DOGMAS    AND    CUSTOMS    OF 

Here  we  have  the  archetype  of  masonic  processions,  on  festival  days  and  other 
important  occasions.  I  shall  hereafter  give  a  detailed  account  of  those  which  took 
place  in  London,  on  laying  the  cornerstone  and  on  the  dedication  of  Freemasons'  Hall. 
We  see  here  also  the  original  of  the  square  rule,  as  a  masonic  symbol.  It  was,  in 
Egypt,  an  emblem  of  justice,  because  it  was  the  means  by  which  was  ascertained  the 
boundaries  of  lands  that  had  been  obscured  or  carried  away  by  the  inundation.  We 
here  moreover  recognise  the  holy  or  sacred  scribe  of  a  royal  arch  chapter,  with  a  book 
and  ruler  in  his  hand.  The  original  book,  containing  the  laws  of  Egypt  relating  to 
sacrifices  and  other  matters  appertaining  to  religion,  not  having  been  preserved,  masonry 
substitutes  for  it  the  Bible,  which  is  opened  at  the  beginning  of  the  gospel  of  St. 
John,  and  with  the  square  and  compasses  laid  thereon,  is  ceremonially  carried  in  the 
processions. 

The  jar  or  vessel  spoken  of,  was  undoubtedly  one  of  the  Cannopi  which  indicated 
the  different  heights  of  the  Nile,  and  for  this  reason  acquired  a  sanctity  among  the  peo- 
ple. The  three  pitchers  carried  in  masonic  processions  no  doubt  originally  alluded  to 
the  Egyptian  cannopi. 

As  to  the  learning,  so  much  boasted  of  by  the  craft,  and  which  seems  to  be  claimed 
by  them  as  an  inheritance  from  their  predecessors,  it  is  to  be  feared,  that  it  remains 
buried  in  the  the  tomb  of  Osymandias.  The  hymns  or  odes  and  songs,  as  well  as  prayers 
are  retained  in  great  abundance,  and  compose  an  esser^tial  part  of  the  masonic  cere- 
monies. 

Attributing  the  authorship  of  twenty  thousand,  or  even  three  thousand  five  hundred 
and  twenty-five  volumes,  to  Thoth  or  Hermes,  is  an  evidence  of  his  being  a  fictitious 
character,  and  corroborates  the  opinion  of  Pluche  on  the  subject.  Jamblichus,  how- 
ever, puts  this  matter  beyound  controversy  ;  he  says  :  "  Hermes,  the  god  who  presides 
over  language,  was  formerly  very  properly  considered  as  common  to  all  priests  ;  and 
the  power  who  presides  over  the  true  science  concerning  the  gods  is  one  and  the  same 
in  the  whole  of  things. 

Hence  our  ancestors  dedicated  the  inventions  of  their  wisdom  to  this  deity,  inscrib- 
ing all  (heir  own  writings  with  the  name  of  Hermes.    (Taylor's  trans,  p.  17-) 

Volney,  who,  in  his  Ruins,  quotes  part  of  the  foregoing  extract  from  Clemens 
observes,  that  Mercury  [who  is  the  same  as  Hermes]  is  the  Janus  of  the  Romans,  the 
Guianeseof  the  Jndians,  and  it  is  remarkable  that  Yanus  and  Guianese  are  synony- 
mous. In  short,  it  appears  that  these  books  are  the  source  of  all  that  has  been  trans- 
mitted to  us  by  the  Greeks  and  Latins  in  every  science,  even  in  alchymy,  neeromancy, 
etc.  What  is  most  to  be  regretted  in.their  loss  is  that  part  which  related  to  the  principled 
of  medicine  and  diet,  in  which  the  Egyptians  appear  to  have  made  considerable  progress 
and  useful  observations." 

Remains  of  the  Ancient  Arts,  in  various  parts  of  Egypt. 

Dendera,  which  is  commonly  identified  with  the  ancient  Tentyra, 
presents  some  very  striking  examples  of  that  sumptuous  architecture 
which  the  people  of  Egypt  lavished  upon .  their  places  of  worship. 
The  gateway  in  particular  which  leads  to  the  temple  of  Isis  has  excited 
universal  admiration.  Each  front,  as  well  as  the  interior,  is  covered 
,with  sculptured  hieroglyphics,  which  are  executed  with  a  richness,  a 
precision,  elegance  of  form,  and  variety  of  ornament,  surpassing  in 
many  respects  the  similar  edifices  which  are  found  at   Thebes  and 


THE    ANCIENT    EGYPTIANS.  95 

Philoe.  The  height  is  forty-two  feet,  the  width  thirty-three,  and  the  depth 
seventeen.  "  Advancing  along  the  brick  ruins,"  says  Dr.  Richardson, 
**  we  came  to  an  elegant  gateway  or  propylon,  which  isalso  of  sandstone, 
neatly  hewn,  and  completely  covered  with  sculpture  and  hieroglyphics 
remarkably  well  cut.  Immediately  over  the  centre  of  the  door-way  is 
the  beautiful  Egyptian  ornament  usually  called  the  globe,  with  serpen* 
and  wings,  emblematical  of  the  glorious  sun  poised  in  the  airy  firmament 
of  heaven,  supported  and  directed  in  his  course  by  the  eternal  wisdom  of 
the  Deity.  The  sublime  phraseology  of  Scripture,  'the  Sun  of  Righte- 
ousness shall  rise  with  healing  on  his  wings,'  could  not  be  more  emphati- 
cally or  more  accurately  represented  to  the  human  eye  than  by  this  ele- 
gant device.  The  temple  itself  still  retains  all  its  original  magnificence. 
The  centuries  which  have  ekpsed  since  the  era  of  its  foundation  ha.ve 
scarcely  affected  it  in  any  important  part,  and  have  impressed  upon  it 
no  greater  appearance  of  age  than  serves  to  render  it  more  venerable 
and  imposing.*  To  Mr.  Hamilton,  who  had  seen  innumerable  mon- 
uments of  the  same  kind  throughout  the  Thebaid,  it  seemed  as  if  he 
were  now  witnessing  the  highest  degree  of  architectural  excellence 
that  had  ever  been  attained  on  the  borders  of  the  Nile.  H-ere  were 
concentrated  the  united  labors  of  ages,  and  the  last  effort  of  human 
art  and  industry,  in  that  uniform  line  of  construction  which  had  been 
adopted  in  the  earliest  times. 

The  portico  consists  of  twenty-four  columns,  in  three  rows  ;  each 
above  twenty-two  feet  in  circumference,  thirty  two  feet  high,  and  cov- 
ered with  hieroglyphics.  On  the  front,  Isis  is  in  general  the  principal 
figure  to  whom  offerings  are  made.  On  the  architrave  are  represen- 
ted two  processions  of  men  and  women  bringing  to  their  goddess,  and 
to  Osiris,  who  is  sitting  behind  her,  globes  encompassed  with  cows' 
horns,  mitred  snakes,  lotus  flowers,  vases,  little  boats,  graduated  staffs, 
and  other  instruments   of  their  emblematical  worship.     The  interior 

*  The  knowledge  of  astronomy  leads  to  the  interpretation  of  hieroglyphical  charac- 
ters, since  astronomical  signs  are  often  found  on  the  ancient  Egyptian  inonuments, 
which  were  probably  employed  by  the  priests  to  record  dates.  On  the  ceiling  of  the 
portico  of  the  temple  among  the  ruins  of  Tentyra,  there  is  a  long  row  of  figures  of  men 
and  animals,  following  each  other  in  the  same  direction  ;  among  these  are  the  twelve 
signs  of  the  zodiac,  placed  according  to  the  motion  of  the  sun  :  it  is  probable  that  the 
first  figure  in  the  procession  represents  the  beginning  of  the  year.  Now  the  first  is  the 
Lion  as  if  coming  out  of  the  temple  ;  and  it  is  well  known  that  the  agricultural  year  of 
\he  Egyptians  commenced  at  the  solstice  of  summer,  the  epoch  of  the  inundation  of 
the  Nile  :  then  if  the  preceding  hypothesis  be  true,  the  solstice  at  the  time  the  temple 
was  built  must  have  happened  m  the  constellation  of  the  lioii ;  but,  as  the  solstice  now 
happens  21°  6'  north  of  the  constellation  of  the  Twins,  it  is  easy  to  compute  that  the 
zodiac  of  Tentyra  must  have  been  made  4000  years  ago.— Diss,  on  Mech.  of  the  Heav. 
by  Mrs.  Somerville.— Edit.. 


DOGMAS    AND    CUSTOMS  OP  96 

of  the  pronaos  is  adorned  with  sculptures,  most  of  them  preserving 
part  of  the  paint  with  which  they  have  been  covered.  Those  on  the 
ceiling  are  peculiarly  rich  and  varied,  all  illustrative  of  the  union 
between  the  astronomical  and  religious  creeds  of  the  ancient  Egyp- 
tians ;  yet,  though  each  separate  figure  is  well  preserved  and  perfectly 
intelligible,  we  must  be  more  intimately  acquainted  with  the  real  prin- 
ciples of  the  sciences,  as  they  were  then  taught,  before  we  can  under- 
take to  explain  the  signs  in  which  they  were  embodied. 

The  sekos,  oi  interior  of  the  temple,  consists  of  several  apartments, 
all  the  walls  and  ceilings  of  which  are  in  the  same  way  covered  with 
religious  and  astronomical  representations. 

The  rooms  have  been  lighted  by  small  perpendicular  holes  cut  in 
the  ceiling,  and,  where  it  was  possible  to  introduce  them,  by  oblique 
ones  in  the  sides.  But  some  idea  might  be  formed  of  the  'perp&tual 
gloom  in  which  the  apartments  on  the  ground-floor  of  the  sekos  must 
have  been  buried,  from  the  fact,  that  where  no  sidelight  could  be  intro, 
duced,  all  they  received  was  communicated  from  the  apartment  above  • 
so  that  notwithstanding  the  cloudless  sky  and  the  brilliant  colors  on 
the  walls,  the  place  must  have  been  always  well  calculated  for  the  mys- 
terious practices  of  the  religion  to  which  it  was  consecrated.  On  one 
corner  of  the  roof  there  was  a  chapel  or  temple  twenty  feet  square, 
consisting  of  twelve  columns,  exactly  similar  in  figure  and  proportions 
to  those  of  the  pronaos.  The  use  to  which  it  may  have  been  applied 
must  probably  remain  one  of  the  secrets  connected  with  the  mystical 
and  sometimes  cruel  service  in  which  the  priests  of  Isis  were  employed. 

Towards  the  eastern  end  of  the  roof  are  two  separate  sets  of 
apartments,  one  on  the  north  and  the  other  on  the  south  side  of  it. 

The  ceiling  of  the  next  room  is  divided  into  two  compartments  by 
a  figure  of  Isis  in  very  high  relief.  In  one  of  them  is  the  circular 
zodiac  ;  in  the  other  a  variety  of  boats  with  four  or  five  human  figures 
in  each  ;  one  of  whom  is  in  the  act  of  spearing  a  large  egg,  while 
others  are  stamping  with  their  feet  upon  the  victims  of  their  fury^ 
among  which  are  several  human  beings.  Near  this  scene  a  large 
lion,  supported  by  four  dog-headed  figures,  each  carrying  a  knife,  may 
be  regarded  as  an  additional  type  of  the  sanguinary  purposes  for 
which  the  apartment  was  used.  The  walls  of  the  third  room 
are  covered  with  the  several  representations  of  a  person, — first  at  the 
point  of  death  lying  on  a  couch  ;  then  stretched  out  lifeless  upon  a 
bier  ;  and  finally,  being  embalmed. 

The  western  wall  of  the  great  temple  is  particularly  interesting  for 
the  extreme  elegance  of  the  sculpture. 


THE    ANCIENT    EGYPTIANS.  97 

Here  are  frequent  representations  of  men  who  seem  prepared  for 
slaughter  or  just  going  to  be  put  to  death.  On  these  occasions  one  or 
more  appear,  with  their  hands  or  legs  tied  to  the  trunk  of  a  tree,  in  the 
most  'painful  and  distorted  attitudes. 

In  a  small  chapel  behind  the  temple,  the  cow  and  the  hawk  seem 
to  have  been  particularly  worshipped,  as  priests  are  frequently  seen 
kneeling  before  them  presenting  sacrifices  and  offerings.  In  the  cen- 
tre of  the  ceiling  is  the  same  front  face  of  Isis  in  high  relief,  illumi- 
nated, as  it  were,  by  a  body  of  rays  issuing  from  the  mouth  of  the  same 
long  figure,  which,  in  the  other  temples,  appears  to  encircle  the  hea- 
venly bodies.  About  two  hundred  yards  eastward  from  this  chapel  is 
a  propylon  of  small  dimensions,  resembling  in  form  that  which  con- 
ducts to  the  great  temple,  and,  like  it,  built  in  a  line  with  the  wall 
which  surrounds  the  sacred  enclosure.  Among  the  sculptures  on  it 
which  appear  of  the  same  style  but  less  finished  than  those  on  the  large 
temple,  little  more  is  worthy  of  notice  than  the  frequent  exhibition  of 
human  slaughter  by  men  or  by  lions.  Still  farther  towards  the  east, 
there  is  another  propylon,  equally  well  preserved  with  the  rest,  about 
forty  feet  in  height,  and  twenty  feet  square  at  the  base.  Among 
the  sacred  figures  on  this  building  is  an  Isis  pointing  with  a  reed 
to  a  graduated  staff  held  by  another  figure  of  the  same  deity,  from 
which  are  suspended  scales  containing  water  animals,  the  whole  group 
perhaps  being  an  emblem  of  her  influence  over  the  Nile  in  regulating 
its  periodic  al  inundations, — Ibid.  p.  166. 


The  signs  of  the  zodiac  portrayed  in  the  center  of  the  roof  of  freemasons'  hall,  Lon- 
don, it  appears,  are  in  accordance  with  the  astronomical  decorations  of  the  ancient 
temples  of  Egypt.  Celestial  and  terrestrial  globes  also  compose  a  part  of  the  masonio 
emblems. 

The  author  seems  not  to  be  aware  that  the  Isis,  pointing  with  a  reed  to  a  graduated 
staff,  was  directing  the  attention  of  the  Egyptians  to  the  Nilometer  or  measure  of  the 
inundation,  so  important  to  their  well  being.  This  measure  in  after  times,  as  before 
noticed,  became  an  ensign  of  ofl&ce,  Mercury's  wand,  and  as  such  has  been  adopted  by 
masonry. 

The  cruelty  supposed  to  be  connected  with  the  Egyptian  mode  of  worship,  as  indi- 
cated by  the  appearance  of  persons  under  torture,  the  reader  will  find  in  the  sequel,  were 
nothing  more  than  sham  representations  of  the  punishments  said  to  be  inflicted  upon 
the  wicked  in  another  life.  The  contrast  displayed  in  the  death  of  a  virtuous  character, 
carefully  embalmed,  clearly  points  out  the  intention  of  these  representations.  The 
appartments  where  these  awful  figures  were  portrayed,  were,  no  doubt,  the  first  into 
which  candidates  for  initiation  into  the  mysteries  were  introduced. 


13 


CHAPTER -II. 

f)RIGIN,  NATURE,  AND  OBJECT,  OF  THE  ANCIENT  MYSTERIES; 
ABRIDGED  FROM  BISHOP  WARBURTON's  DIVINE  LEGATION  QF 
MOSES  ;  WITH  NOTES  AND  REMARKS,  POINTING  OUT  THEIR 
IDENTITY    WITH    FREEMASONRY,    ETC. 

It  is  proper  ta  premise,  that  the  author  uniformly  refers  to  the  works  of  the  writers 
which  he  quotes,  and  generally  gives  the  passages  in  the  original  language  in  which 
they  were  written.  His  quotations  from  the  Eneid,  the  Metamorphosis  of  Epuleius,  and 
some  other  works,  given  in  the  Latin  language,  are  here  rendered  into  English.  A  few 
Greek  passages  in  his  work  are  also  given  in  translation,  and  all  Greek  terms  are  put 
in  Roman  characters  for  the  benefit  of  the  general  reader. 

An  abstract  of  the  author's  remarks,  introductory  to  his  treatise  on  the  Mysteries,  is 
first  given,  as  follows  : 

So  inseparable,  in  antiquity,  were  the  ideas  of  law-giving  and 
religion,  that  Plutarch,  speaking  of  the  preference  of  atheism  to  super- 
stition, supposes  no  other  establishment  of  divine  worship  than  what 
.was  the  work  of  the  legislator.  "  How  much  happier  would  it  have 
been,  says  he,  for  the  Carthagenians,  had  their  first  law-giver  been  like 
Critias  or  Diogoras,  who  believed  neither  gods  nor  demons,  rather  than 
such  an  one  as  enjoined  their  public  sacrifices  Jo  Saturn." 

But  here  it  will  be  necessary  to  remind  the  reader  of  this  previous 
truth,  that  there  never  was  in  any  age  of  the  world,  from  the  most  early 
accounts  of  time,  to  this  present  hour,  any  civil-policied  nation  or  people 
who  had  a  religion,  of  which  the  chief  foundation  and  support  was  not 
the  doctrine  of  a  future  state  of  rewards  and  punishments  ;  the  Jewish 
people  only  excepted.  This  I  presume,  our  adversaries  will  not  deny. 
Mr.  Bayle,  the  indulgent  foster  father  of  infidelity,  confesses  it  in  th« 
fullest  manner,  and  with  the  utmost  ingenuity ;  "  all  the  religions  of 
the  world,  whether  true  or  false,  turn  upon  this  grand  pivot,  that  there  is 
nn  invisible  judge  who  punishes  and  rewards  after  this  life,  the  actions 
of  men,  both  of  thought  and  deed.  From  thence  it  is  supposed  the 
principal  use  of  religion  is  derived,"  and  thinks  it  was  the  utility  of 
ihat  doctrine  which  set  the  magistrate  upon  inventing  a  religion  for  the 
state.  "-It  is  the  principle  motive  that  incited  those  who  invented  it." 
(Diet.  Crit.  and  Hist.  Art.  Spinoza  Rem.  E.) 

The  Egyptians  were  the  first  people  who  perfected  civil  policy,  and 
established  religion :  they  were  the  first  too,  who  deified  their  kings, 
law-givers  and  public  benefactors.  This  was  a  practice  invented  by 
them,  who  in  process  of  time,  taught  the  rest  of  the  world  their  mystery. 


100  A    DISSERTATION    ON 

The  attributes  and  qualities  assigned  to  their  gods,  always  corres- 
ponded with  the  nature  and  genius  of  the  government.  If  this  was  gen- 
tle, benign,  compassionate  and  forgiving  ;  goodness  and  mercy  were 
most  essential  to  the  deity ;  but  if  severe,  inexorable,  captious  or  une- . 
qual,  the  very  gods  were  tyrants  ;  and  expiations,  atonements,  lustra- 
tions, and  bloody  sacrifices  composed  the  system  of  religious  worship. 

Gods  partial,  changeful,  passionate,  unjust, 
Whose  attributes  were  rage,  revenge  and  lust, 
Such  as  the  souls  of  cowards  might  conceive, 
And  formed  like  tyrants,  tyrants  would  believe. 

The  first  step  the  legislator  took,  was  to  pretend  a  mission  and  rev- 
elation from  some  god,  by  whose  command  and  direction  he  had  framed 
the  policy  he  would  establish.  In  a  word,  there  is  hardly  an  old  law- 
giver, on  record  but  what  thus  pretended  to  revelation,  and  the  divine 
assistance. 

The  universal  custom  of  the  ancient  world  was,  to  make  gods  and 
prophets  of  their  first  kings,  and  law-givers.  Hence  it  is,  that  Plato 
makes  legislation  to  have  come  from  God,  and  not  from  man. 

Aristotle,  in  his  maxims  for  setting  up,  and  supporting  a  tyranny, 
lays  this  down  for  one  "  to  seem  extremely  attached  to  the  worship  of 
the  gods,  for  that  men  have  no  apprehension  of  injustice  from  such  as 
they  take  to  be  religious,  and  to  have  a  high  sense  of  providence.*  Nor 
will  the  people  be  apt  to  run  into  plots  and  conspiracies  against  those, 
whom  they  believe  the  gods  will  in  turn,  fight  for,  and  support."  And 
here  it  is  worth  noting,  that,  anciently,  tyrants,  as  well  as  law-givers 
gave  all  encouragement  to  religion ;  and  endeavored  to  establish 
their  irregular  wills,  not  by  convincing  men  that  there  was  no  just 
nor  unjust  in  actions ;  but  by  persuading  them  that  the  privilege  of 
divine  right  exempted  the  tyrant  from  all  moral  obligation. 

Porphyry  quotes  an  express  law  of  Draco's  concerning  the  mode 
of  divine  worship.  '*  Let  the  gods  and  our  owti  country  heroes  be  pub- 
licly worshipped,  according  to  the  established  rites ;  when  privately, 
according  to  every  man's  abilities,  with  terms  of  the  greatest  regard 
and  reverence ;  with  the  first  fruits  of  their  labors,  and  with  annual 
libations."  Andocides  quotes  another  of  Solon,  which  provides  for  the 
due  and  regular  celebration  of  the  Eleusinian  Mysteries.  Athenaeus 
does  the  same.  And  how  considerable  a  part  these  were  of  divine 
worship,  and  of  what  importance  to  the  very  essence  of  religion,  we 
shall  see  hereafler. 

♦  This  principle  is  beginning  to  be  understood,  and  acted  upon,  by  some  of  our  lead- 
ing patriots  in  tne  American  republic— Edit, 


THE    ANCIENT    MYSTERIES.  101 

The  second  step  the  legislators  took  to  propagate  and  establish 
religion,  was  to  make  the  general  doctrine  of  a  providence,  with  which, 
they  prefaced  and  introduced  their  laws,  the  great  sanction  of  their 
institutes. 

Thus  Zaleucus  begins  his  preface :  "  Every  inhabitant  whether  of 
town  or  country,  should  first  of  all  be  firmly  persuaded  of  the  being  and 
existence  of  the  gods  :  which  belief  he  will  be  readily  induced  to  enter- 
tain, when  he  contemplates  the  heavens,  regards  the  world,  and 
observes  the  disposition,  order,  and  harmony  of  the  universe ;  which 
can  neither  be  the  work  of  blind  chance,  nor  of  man.  These  gods  are 
to  be  worshiped  as  the  cause  of  all  the  real  good  we  enjoy.  Every 
one  therefore  should  so  purify,  and  possess  his  mind,  as  to  have  it 
clear  of  all  kinds  of  evil ;  being  persuaded  that  god  is  not  honored 
by  a  wicked  person,  nor  acceptably  served,  like  miserable  man,  with 
sumptuous  ceremonies,  or  taken  with  costly  sacrifices,  but  with  virtue 
only,  and  a  constant  disposition  to  good  and  just  actions^ 

And  much  in  the  same  fashion  does  Charondas  introduce  his  laws. 

In  imitation  of  this  practice,  Plato  likewise,  and  Cicero  both  preface 
their  laws  with  the  sanctions  of  religion.  And  though  these  two 
great  men  were  not,  strictly  speaking,  law-givers  in  form ;  yet  we  are 
not  to  suppose  that  what  they  wrote  in  this  science,  was  like  the  dreams 
of  the  sophists,  for  the  amusement  of  the  idle  and  curious.  They  were 
both  well  practised  in  afl^airs,  and  deeply  conversant  in  human  nature ; 
and  they  formed  their  speculative  institutes  on  the  plan,  and  in  the  spirit 
and  views  of  ancient  legislation;  the  foundation  of  Plato's  being  the 
Attic  Laws,  and  the  foundation  of  Cicero's  the  T\oelve  Tables. 

Plato  makes  it  the  necessary  introduction  to  his  laws,  to  establish 
the  being  and  providence  of  the  gods  by  a  law  against  sacrilege.  And 
he  explains  what  he  means  by  sacrilege,  in  the  following  words ; 
"  Either  the  denial  of  the  being  of  the  gods :  or,  if  that  be  owned, 
the  denial  of  their  providence  over  men ;  or,  thirdly,  the  teaching,  that 
they  are  flexible,  and  easy  to  be  cojoled  by  prayer*  and  sacrifice." 
And  afterwards :  "  It  is  not  of  small  consequence,  that  what  we  here 
reason  about  the  gods,  should  by  all  means  be  made  probable ;  as,  that 
they  are  ;  and  that  they  are  good;  and  ih^it  their  co7ic  em  for  justice 
takes  place  of  all  other  human  considerations.  For  this,  in  our  opinion, 
seems  to  be  the  noblest  and  best  preface  that  can  be  made  to  a  body  of 

*  Plutarch,  in  his  treatise  of  Isis  and  Osiris,  remarks,  that  "  In  Crete  there  was  a 
statue  of  Jupiter,  without  ears.  The  Cretians  judging  it  fit  that  he  who  is  the  ruler 
and  lord  of  all  things,  should  hear  no  one."— See  Taylor'a  Translation  Jamb.  p. 
248.  Edit. 


102  A    DISSERTATION  ON 

laws.  In  compliancy  with  this  declaration,  Cicero's  preface  to  his  laws 
is  conceived  in  the  following  terms :  "  Let  our  citizens  then  be,  first  of  all 
firmly -persuaded  of  the  government  and  dominion  of  the  gods;  that 
they  are  the  lords  and  masters  of  the  world ;  that  all  things  are  dis- 
posed by  their  power,  direction,  and  providence  ;  and  that  the  whole 
race  of  mankind  is  in  the  highest  manner  indebted  to  them ;  that  they 
are  intimately  acquainted  with  every  one's  state  and  condition  ;  that 
they  know  what  he  does,  what  he  thinks;  with  what  disposition  of 
«iind,  and  with  what  degree  of  piety  he  performs  the  acts  and  offices  of 
religion ;  and  -that,  accordingly,  they  make  a  distinction  between  the 
good  and  em/." 

And  then  follow  the  laws  themselves  ;  the  first  of  which  is  conceived 
in  these  words :  "  Let  those  who  approach  the  gods,  be  pure  and  unde- 
filed ;  let  their  offerings  be  seasoned  with  piety,  and  all  ostentation  of 
pomp  omitted:  the  god  himself  will  be.  his  own  avenger  on  transgres- 
sors. Let  the  gods,  and  those  who  were  ever  reckoned  in  the  number 
of  celestials,  be  worshipped  :  and  those  likewise,  whom  their  merits 
have  raised  to  heaven :  such  as  Hercules,  Bacchus,  ^Esculapius,  Cas- 
tor, Pollux,  and  Romulus.  And  let  chapels  be  erected  in  honor  to 
those  qualities,  by  whose  aid  mortals  arrive  thither,  such  as  reason, 
mrtue,  piety  and  good  faithP — De  Legg.  lib.  ii.  c.  8. 

Institution  of  the  Mysteries. 

The  next  step  the  legislator  took,  was  to  support  and  aflirm  the 
■general  doctrine  of  a  providence,  which  he  had  delivered  in  his  laws, 
by  a  very  circumstantial  and  popular  method  of  inculcating  the  belief 
of  a  future  state  of  rewards  and  punishments. 

This  was  the. institution  of  the  ?wys^e?zes,  the  most  sacred  part  of 
pagan  religion:  and  artfully  framed  to  strike  deeply  and  forcibly  into 
the  minds  and  imaginations  of  the  people- 

I  propose,. therefore,  to  give  a  full  and  distinct  account  of  this  whole 
jnatter  :  and  the  rather,  because  it  is  a  thing  little  known  or  attended  to : 
the  ancients  who  wrote  expressly  on.  the  mysteries,  such  as  Melanthius, 
Menander,  Hicesius,  Sotades,  and  others,  not  being  come  down  to  us. 
So  that  the  modern  writers  on  this  subject  are  altogether  in  the  dark 
concerning  their  origin  and  end;  not  excepting  Meursius  himself;  to 
y/hom,  however,  I  am  much  indebted,  for  abridging  my  labor  in  the 
search  of  those  passages  of  antiquity,  which  make  mention  of  the 
-Eleusinian  Mysteries,  and  for  bringing  the  greater  part  of  them  together 
'under  one  view. — (Eleusinia :  five  de  Cereris  Eleusinse  sacro.} 


TETt    ANCIENT    MYSTEHIES.  103^ 

To  avoid 'ambiguity,  it  will  be  proper  to  explain  the  term.  Each" 
of  the  pagan  gods  had,  besides  the  public  and  open,  a  secret  worship' 
paid  unto  him ;  to  which  none  were  admitted  but  those  who  had  been 
selected  by  preparatory  ceremonies,  called  initiation.  This  secret' 
worship  was  termed  the  Mysteries. 

But  though  every  god  had,  besides  his  open  worship,  the  secrer 
likewise  ;  yet  this  latter  did  not  every  where  attend  the  former ;  but  only* 
there,  where  he  was  the  patron  god,  or  in  principal  esteem.  Thus 
when  in  consequence  of  that  intercommunity  of  paganism,  which  will' 
be  explained  hereafter,  one  nation  adopted  the  gods  of  another,  they  did 
not  always  take  in  at  the  same  time,  the  secret  worship  or  mysteries  of 
that  god ;  so,  in  Rome,  the  public  and  open  worship  of  Bacchus  was  in 
use  long  before  his  mysteries  were  admitted.  But  on  the  other  hand, 
again,  the  worship  of  the  stange  god  was  sometimes  introduced  only 
for  the  sake  of  his  mysteries  :  as,  in  the  same  city,  that  of  Isis  and  Osiris." 
Thus  stood  the  case  in  general,  the  particular  exceptions  to  it,  will  be? 
seen  in  the  sequel  of  this  dissertation.' 

The  first  and  original  mysteries,  of  which  we  have  any'silr^' 
scccount,  w^ere  those  of  Isis  and  Osiris  in  Egypt ;  from  whence  they* 
were  derived  to  the  Greeks,  under  the  presidency  of  various  gods,  as^ 
the  institutor  thought  most  for  his  purpose ;  Zoroaster  brought' them? 
into  Persia,  Cadmus  and  Inachus  into  Greece  at  large,  Orph^us'intc^ 
Thrace;  Melampus  into  Argis,  Trophonius  into  Boeotia,  Minos  into* 
Crete;  Cinyras  into  Cyprus,  and  Erechtheus  into  Athens.  And  as  in^ 
Egypt  they  were  to  Isis  and  Osiris ;  so  in  Asia  they  were  to  Mithras, 
in  Samothrace  to  the  mother  of  the  gods,  in  Boeotia  to  Bacchus,  in,- 
Gyprus  to  Venus,  in  Crete  to  Jupiter,  in  Athens  to  Ceres  and  Proser- 
pine, in  Amphissa  to  Castor  and  Pollux,  in  Lemnos  to  Vulcan,  and' 
so  to  others,  in  other  places,  the  number  of  which  was  incredible. 

But  their  end,  as  well  as  nature,  was  the  same  in  all ;  to  teach  the* 
doctrine  of  a  future  state.  In  this,  Origen  and  Celsus  agree;  the  two' 
most  learned  writers  of  their  several  parties*  The  first,  minding  hiarr 
adversary  of  the  difference  between  the  future  life  proirrised^by  Ghrie^ 
tianity,  and  that  taught  in  paganism,  bids  him  compare  the  Christian 
with  what  all  the  sects  of  philosophy,  and  all  the  mysteries,  among^ 
Greeks  and  Barbarians,  taught  concerning  it :  and  Celsus,  in  his  turn^ 
endeavoring  to  show  that  Christianity  had  no  advantage  over  Paganism? 
in  the  efficacy  of  stronger  sanctions,  expresses  himself  to  this  purpose; 
'*  But  now,  after  all,  just  as  you  believe  eternal  punishments,  so  do  th^f- 


104  A    DISSERTATION    Off 

ministers  of  the  sacred  rites,  and  those  who  initiate  into,  and  preside  in 
the  mysteries." 

And  that  nothing  very  heterodox  was  taught  in  the  mysteries  con- 
cerning a  future  state,  I  collect  from  the  answer  Origcn  makes  to  Cel- 
sus,  who  had  preferred  what  was  taught  in  the  mysteries  of  Bacchus 
on  that  point,  to  what  the  Christian  religion  revealed  concerning  it. 
lib.  iv.  p.  167. 

They  continued  long  in  religious  reverence:  some  were  more 
famous  and  more  extensive  than  others  ;  to  which  many  accidents 
occurred.  The  most  noted  were  the  Orphic,  the  Bacchic,  the  Eleusin- 
ian,  the  Samothracian,  the  Cabiric,  and  the  Mithriac. 

Euripides  makes  Bacchus  say,  in  his  tragedy  of  that  name,  that 
the  Orgies  were  celebrated  by  all  foreign  nations,  and  that  he  came 
to  introduce  them  among  the  Greeks.  And  it  is  not  improbable,  but 
several  barbarous  nations  might  have  learned  them  from  the  Egyp- 
tians long  before  they  came  into  Greece.  The  Druids  of  Britain 
who  had^  as  well  as  the  Brachvians  of  India,  divers  of  their  religious 
rites  from  thence,  celebrated  the  Orgies  of  Bacchus,  as  we  learn  from 
Dyonisius  the  African,  And  Strabo,  having  quoted  Artemidorus  for 
a  fabulous  story,  subjoins,  '*  But  what  he  says  of  Ceres  and  Proser- 
pine is  more  credible,  namely,  that  there  is  an  island  near  Britain, 
where  they  perform  the  same  rites  to  those  two  goddesses  as  are  used 
in  Samothrace^  (Strabonis  Geor.  lib.  iv.)  But  of  all  the  mysteries, 
those  which  bore  that  name,  by  way  of  eminence,  the  Eleusinian,  cel- 
ebrated at  Athens  in  honor  of  Ceres,  were  by  far  the  most  renowned  ; 
and  in  process  of  time,  eclipsed,  and,  as  it  were,  swallowed  up  the  rest. 
Their  neighbors  round  about  very  early  practised  these  mysteries  to 
the  neglect  of  their  own ;  in  a  little  time  all  Greece  and  Asia  Minor 
were  initiated  into  them ;  and  at  length  they  spread  over  the  whole 
Roman  empire,  and  even  beyond  the  limits  of  it.  *'  I  insist  not,  (says 
Tully)  on  those  sacred  and  august  rites  of  Eleuris,  where,  from  the 
remotest  regions,  men  come  to  be  initiated.'*  And  we  are  told  in  Zosi- 
mus,  that  "these  most  holy  rites  were  then  so  extensive,  as  to  take  in 
the  whole  race  of  mankind."  Aristides  calls  Eleusis  the  common 
temple  of  the  earth.  And  Pausanias  says,  the  rites  performed  there 
as  much  excelled  all  other^rites,  instituted  for  the  promotion  of  piety,  as 
the  gods  excelled  the  heroes. 

How  this  happened,  is  to  be  accounted  for  from  the  nature  of  the 
State  which  gave  birth  to  these  mysteries.     Athens  was  a  city  the 


THE    1.NCIENT    MYSTERIES.  105 

most  devoted  to  religion  of  any  upon  the  face  of  the  earth.  On  this 
account  their  poet  Sophocles  calls  it  the  sacred  building  of  the  gods« 
in  allusion  to  its  foundation.  Nor  was  it  a  less  compliment  St.  Paul 
intended  to  pay  the  Athenians,  when  he  said,  "  Ye  men  of  Athens,  I 
perceive  that  in  all  things  ye  are  too  superstitious.'*  (Acts,  xvii.  22.) 
And  Josephus  tells  us,  that  they  w^ere  universally  esteemed  the  most 
religious  people  of  Greece.  Hence,  in  these  matters,  Athens  became 
the  pattern  and  standard  to  the  rest  of  the  world. 

In  discoursing,  therefore  of  the  mysteries  in  general,  we  shall  be 
forced  to  take  our  ideas  of  them  chiefly  from  what  we  find  practised  in 
the  Eleusinian.  Nor  need  we  fear  to  be  mistaken ;  the  end  of  all 
being  the  same,  and  all  having  their  common  original  from  Egypt. 

To  begin  with  the  general  purpose  and  design  of  their  institution. 
This  will  be  understood,  by  showing  what  they  communicated  pro- 
miscuously to  all. 

To  support  the  doctrine  of  a  providence  which,  they  taught,  gov- 
erned the  world,  they  enforced  the  belief  of  a  future  state  of  rewards' 
and  punishments,  by  all  kinds  of  methods.  But  as  this  did  not  quite 
clear  up  the  intricate  ways  of  providence,  they  added  the  doctrine  of  a 
metempsychosis,  orthe  belief  of  a  prior  state,  as  we  learn  from  Cicero, 
and  Porphyry,  the  latter  of  whom  informs  us,  that  it  was  taught  in  the 
mysteries  of  the  Persian  Mithras.  This  was  an  ingenious  solution, 
invented  by  the  Egyptian  lawgivers,  to  remove  all  doubts,  concerning 
the  moral  attributes  of  God,  and  so,  consequently  to  establish  the  belief 
of  his  providence,  from  a  future  state.  For  the  lawgiver  well  knew 
how  precarious  that  belief  was,  while  the  moral  attributes  of  God 
remained  doubtful  and  uncertain. 

In  cultivating  the  doctrine  of  a  future  life,  it  was  taught,  that  the 
initiated,  would  be  happier  in  that  state  than  all  other  mortals  :  that 
whilethesoulsof  the  profane,  at  their  leaving  the  body,  stuck  fast  in 
mire  and  filth,  and  remained  in  darkness,  the  souls  of  the  initiated 
winged  their  flight  directly  to  the  happy  islands,  and  the  habitations  of 
the  gods.  This  promise  was  as  necessary  for  the  support  of  the  Myste- 
ries, as  the  Mysteries  were  for  the  support  of  the  doctrine.  But  now, 
lest  it  should  be  mistaken,  that  initiation  alone,  or  any  other  means 
than  a  virtuous  life,  entitled  men  to  this  future  happiness,  the  Myste- 
ries openly  proclaimed  it  as  their  chief  business,  to  restore  the  soul  to 
its  original  purity.  "  It  was  the  end  and  design  of  initiation,  says 
Plato,  "  to  restore  the  soul  to  that  state,  from  whence  it  fell,  as  from  its 
native  seat  of  perfection."     They  contrived  that  every  thing  should, 

14 


106  A    DISSERTATION    ON 

tend  to  show  the  necessity  of  virtue,  as  appears  from  Epictetus. 
••  Thus  the  mysteries  became  useful,  thus  we  seize  t'le  true  spirit  of 
them,  when  we  begin  to  apprehend  that  every  thing  therein  was  insti- 
tuted by  the  ancients,  for  instruction  and  amendment  of  life."  Por- 
phyry gives  us  some  of  those  moral  precepts,  which  were  enforced  in 
the  mysteries,  as  to  honor  their  parents,  to  offer  up  fruits  to^the  gods, 
and  to  forbear  cruelty  towards  animals.  In  pursuance  of  this  scheme, 
it  was  required  in  the  aspirant  to  the  Mysteries,  that  he  should  be  of  a 
clear  and  unblemished  character,  and  free  even  from  the  suspicion  of 
any  notorious  crime.  (Libanius  Decl.  xix.)  To  come  to  the  truth,  he 
was  severely  interrogated  by  the  priest  or  hierophant,  impressing  him 
with  the  same  sense  of  his  obligation  to  conceal  nothing,  as  is  now 
done  at  the  Roman  confessional. 

As  appears  from  the  repartee  which  Plutarch  records,  in  his 
Laconic  Apothegins  of  Lysandet,  when  he  went  to  be  initiated 
into  the  Samothracian  mysteries,  "he  was  required,  by  the  hierophant, 
to  confess  every  wicked  act  that  he  had  committed  during  his  whole 
life." 

VV'hv  initiation  into  these  mysteries. is  called,  inquiring  of  the  ora- 
cles will  be  seen  afterwards. 

Hence  it  was,  that  when  Nero,  after  tl  e  murder  of  his  mother, 
took  a  journey  into  Greece,  and  had  a  mind  to  be  present  at  the  cele- 
bration of  the  Eleusinian  mysteries,  the  consciousness  of  his  parricide 
deterred  him  from  attempting  it.  (Sueton.  Vita  Neron.  cap.  34.)  On 
the  same  account,  the  good  iimperor  M.  Antoninus,  when  he  would 
purge  himself  to  the  world  of  the  death  of  Avidius  Cassius,  .chose  to 
be  initiated  into  the  Eleusinian  mysteries,  it  being  notorious,  that  none 
were  admitted  into  them,  who  labored  under  the  just  suspicion  of  any 
heinous  immorality.  This  was  originally  a  fundamental  condition  of 
initiation,  observed  in  common  by  all  the  mysteries. 

During  the  celebration  of  the  mysteries,  they  were  enjoined  the 
greatest  purity,  and  highest  elevation  of  mind.  "When  you  sacrifice 
or  pray,  says  Epictetus  in  Arrian,  go  with  a  prepared  purity  of  mind, 
and  with  dispositions  so  previously  disposed,  as  are  required  of  you 
when  you  approach  the  ancient  riles  and  mysteries."  And  Proclus 
tells  us  that  the  mysteries  and  the  initiations  drew  the  souls  of  men 
from  a  material,  sensual,  and  merely  human  life,  and  joined  them  in 
communio  1  with  the  gods.  Nor  was  a  less  dei  ree  of  purity  required  of 
the  initiated  for  their  future  conduct.  They  were  obliged  by  sol- 
emn engagements  to  commence  a  new  life  of  strictest  piety  and  virtue  ; 


THE    ANCIENT    WYSTE11IE3.  107 

into  which  they  were  entered  by  a  severe  course  of  penance,  proper  to 
purge  he  mind  of  its  natural  defilements.  Gregory  Nazianzen  tells 
us,  "  that  no  one  could  be  initiated  into  the  mysteries  of  Mithras,  till  he 
had  undergone  all  sorts  of  mortifying  trials,  and  had  approved  himself 
holy  and  impassible."  The  consideration  of  all  this  made  Tertullien 
say,  that,  in  the  mysteries,  "  truth  herself  took  on  every  shape,  to  oppose 
and  combat  truth."  Omnia  adversus  veritatem,  de  ipsa  veritate  con- 
structa  esse.  Apol.  cap.  47.)  And  Austin,  •'  that  the  devil  hurried  away 
deluded  souls  to  their  destruction,  when  he  promised  to  purify  them  by 
those  ceremonies,  called  initiations." 

The  initiated,  under  this  discipline,  and  with  these  promises,  were 
esteemed  the  only  happy  men.  Aristophanes,  who  speaks  the  sense 
of  the  people,  makes  them  exult  and  triumph  after  this  manner  :  "  On 
us'only  does  the  sun  dispense  his  blessings,  we  only  receive  pleasure 
from  his  beams;  we,  who  are  initiated,  and  perform  towards  strangers 
and  citizens  all  acts  of  piety  and  justice."  And  Sophocles,  to  the 
same  purpose,  "  Life,  only  is  to  be  had  there  ;  all  other  places  are  full 
of  misery  and  evil."  "Happy,  says  Euripides  is  the  man  w^ho  hath 
been  initiated  into  the  greater  mysteries,  and  leads  a  life  of  piety  and 
religion."  And  the  longer  any  one  had  been  initiated,  the  more  hon- 
orable they  deemed  him.  It  was  even  scandalous  not  to  be  initiated, 
and  however  virtuous  the  person  otherwise  appeared,  he  became  sus- 
picious to  the  people,  as  was  the  case  of  Socrates,  and,  in  after-time  5  of 
Demonax.  No  wonder  then  if  the  superior  advantages  of  the  initiated, 
both  here  and  hereafter,  should  make  the  mysteries  universally 
aspired  to.  And  indeed,  they  soon  grew  as  comprehensive  in  the  num- 
bers they  embraced,  as  in  the  regions  and  countries  to  which  they 
extended.  Men,  women,  and  children,  ran  to  be  initiated.  Thus 
Apuleius  describes  the  state  of  the  mysteries  even  in  his  time  :  •'  There  . 
was  an  influx  of  a  crowd  of  those  who  had  been  initiated  in  the  sacred 
rites  of  the  goddess,  consisting  of  men  and  women  of  every  degree  and 
of  every  age,  resplendent  with  the  pure  whiteness  of  linnen  garments^ 

The  pagans,  we  see,  seemed  to  think  initiation  as  necessary,  as  the 
Christians  did  baptism.  And  the  custom  of  initiating  children  appears 
from  a  passage  of  Terence,  to  have  been  general. 

Nay,  they  had  even  the  same  superstition  in  the  administration  of 
it  which  some  Christians  had  of  baptism,  to  defer  it  to  the  approach  of 
death  ;  so  the  honest  farmer  Trygasus,  in  the  Pax  of  Aristophanes; 

"  I  must  be  initiated  before  I  die." 

The  occasion  of  this  solicitude,  is  told  us  by  the  scholiast  on  the 


108  A    DISSERTATION    ON 

Rana£  of  the  same  poet.  •'  The  Athenians  believed,  that  he  who  was 
initiated,  and  instructed  in  the  mysteries,  would  obtain  divine  honors 
after  death;  and  therefore  all  ran  to  be  initiated.  Their  fondness  for 
it  became  so  great,  that  at  such  times  as  the  public  treasury  was  low, 
the  magistrate  would  have  recourse  to  the  mysteries,  as  a  fund  to  sup- 
ply the  exigences  of  the  state.  "  Aristogiton,  says  the  commentator  on 
Hermogenes,  in  a  great  scarcity  of  public  money,  procured  a  law,  that 
in  Athens,  every  one  should  pay  a  certain  sum  for  his  initiation." 

Every  thing  in  these  rights  was  mysteriously  conducted  and  under 
the  most  solemn  obligations  to  secrecy*  Which,  how  it  could  agree  to 
our  representation  of  the  mysteries,  as  an  institution  for  the  use  of  the 
people,  we  shall  now  endeavor  to  show. 

They  were  hidden  and  kept  secret  for  two  reasons  : 

First — Nothing  excites  our  curiosity  like  that  which  retires 
from  our  observation,  and  seems  to  forbid  our  search.  Of  this  opin- 
ion you  will  find  the  learned  Synesius,  where  he  says,  "  the  people  will 
despise  what  is  easy  and  unintelligible,  and  therefore  they  must  always 
be  provided  with  something  wonderful  and  mysterious  in  religion,  to  hit 
their  taste  and  stimulate  their  curiosity."  And  again,  "  the  ignorance 
of  the  mysteries  preserves  their  veneration  ;  for  which  reason  they  are 
entrusted  to  the  cover  of  night." 

On  these  principles  the  mysteries  were  framed.  They  were  kept 
secret,  to  excite  curiosity  :  they  w^ere  celebrated  in  the  night  to  impress 
veneration  and  religious  horror. f  And  they  were  performed  with  variety 
of  shows  and  representations,  (of  which  more  hereafter)  to  fix  and  perpet- 
uate those  impressions.  Hitherto,  then,  the  Mysteries  are  to  be  con- 
sidered as  invented  not  to  deter,  but  to  invite  the  curiosity,  of  the  people. 
But, 

Secondly — They  were  kept  secret  from  a  necessity  of  teaching  the 
initiated  some  things,  improper  to  be  communicated  to  all.  The  learned 
Varro  in  a  fragment  of  his  book  of  religions,  preserved  by  St.  Augustin, 
tells  us  that  "there  were  many  truths,  which  it  was  inconvenient  for  the 
state  to  be  generally  known;  and  many  things,  which,  though  false,  it 
was  expedient  the  people  should  believe  ;  and  that  therefore  the  Greeks 
shut  up  their  mysteries  in  the  silence  of  their  sacred  inclosures." 

Now  to  reconcile  this  seeming  contradiction,  of  supposing  the  mys- 

♦  This  obligation  of  the  initiated  to  secrecy  was  the  reason  that  the  Egyptian  hiero- 
glyphic for  them,  was  a  grasshopper,  which  was  supposed  to  have  no  mouth.  See  Ho- 
rapolloHyeroglyph.lib.  li.  cap.  55. 

t  Euripides,  m  the  Bacchantes,  act.  ii.  makes  Bacchus  say,  that  the  orgeries  were 
celebrated  m  the  night,  because  darkness  has  something  solemn  and  august  in  it,  and 
proper  to  fill  the  mind  with  sacred  horror. 


THE    ANCIENT    MYSTERIES.  109 

teries  to  be  instituted  to  invite  the  people  into  them,  and  at  the  same  time 
to  keep  them  from  the  people's  knowledge,  we  are  to  observe,  that  in 
the  Eleusinian  rites  there  were  two  myslcrics,  the  greater  and  the  less. 
The  end  of  the  less  must  be  referred  to  what  we  said  of  the  institutor's 
intention  to  invite  the  people  into  them  ;  and  of  the  greater,  to  his  inten- 
tion of  keeping  some  truths  from  the  people's  knowledge.  Nor  is  this 
said  without  sufficient  warrant :  antiquity  is  very  express  for  this  dis- 
tinction. We  are  told  that  the  lesser  mysteries  were  only  a  kind  of 
preparatory  purification  for  the  greater,  and  might  be  easily  communi- 
cated to  all.  That  four  years  was  the  usual  time  of  probation  for  those 
greater  mysteries  ;  in  which,  as  Clemens  Alexandrinus  expressly 
informs  us,  the  secrets  were  doposited. 

However,  as  it  is  very  certain,  that  both  the  greater  and  lesser  mys- 
teries were  instituted  for  the  benefit  of  the  state,  it  follows  that  the  doc- 
trines taught  in  both,  were  equally  for  the  service  of  society ;  only  with 
this  difference,  some  without  inconvenience,  might  be  taught  promis- 
cuously, others  could  not. 

On  the  whole,  the  secret  in  the  lesser  mysteries,  w^as  some  hidden 
rites  and  shows  to  be  kept  from  the  open  view  of  the  people,  only  to 
invite  their  curiosity ;  and  the  secret  in  the  greater,  some  hidden  doctrines 
to  be  kept  from  the  people's  knowledge,  for  the  very  contrary  purpose. 
For  the  shows  common  both  to  the  greater  and  lesser  mysteries,  were 
only  designed  to  engage  the  attention,  and  raise  their  devotion. 

But  it  may  be  worth  while  to  inquire  more  particularly  into  the  hid- 
den doctrines  of  the  greater  mysteries,  for  so  religiously  was  the 
secret  kept,  that  the  thing  seems  still  to  lie  involved  in  darkness.  We 
shall  therefore  proceed  cautiously ;  and  try,  from  the  obscure  hints 
dropped  up  and  down  in  antiquity. 

"Pandereres  alta  terra  et  caligine  mersas." 

Lay  open  things  hidden  in  the  deep  earth  and  in  obscurity. 

To  begin  with  a  passage  of  Clemens  Alexandrinus  :  "After  these, 
(namely,  lustrations,)  are  the  lesser  mysteries,  in  which  is  laid  the 
foundation  of  the  hidden  doctrines,  and  preparations  for  what  is  to 
come  afterwards." 

But  there  was  one  insuperable  obstacle  to  a  life  of  purity  and  holi- 
ness, the  vicious  examples  of  their  gods.  Ego  homuncio  hoc  non 
fecerem?      (Could  not  I,  a  sorry  fellow,  be  permitted  to  do  this  thing)* 

*  Terence,  Eun.  act.  iii.  sc.  v. — Euripides  puts  this  argument  into  the  mouth  of  several 
of  his  speakers,  up  and  down  his  tragedies.  Helen,  in  the  fourth  act  of  the  Trojan 
Dames,  says,  "  How  could  I  resist  a  goddess,  whom  Jupiter  himself  obeys  ?"  Ion,  in 
his  play  of  that  name,  in  the  latter  end  of  the  first  act,  speaks  to  the  same  purpose  | 


110  A    DISSERTATION  ON  ^ 

was  the  absolving  formula,  whenever  any  one  was  resolved  to  give  a 
loose  to  his  passions.  And  the  licentious  rites,  in  the  open  worshijf  of 
their  gods,  gave  still  greater  encouragement  to  these  conclusions. 
Plato,  in  his  book  of  laws,  forbids  drinking  to  excess ;  unless,  says  he, 
during  the  feast  of  Bacchus,  and  in  honor  of  that  god.  And  Aristotle, 
in  his  politics,  having  blamed  all  lewd  and  obscene  images  and  pic- 
tures, excepts  those  of  die  gods,  which  religion  had  sanctified. 

Now  the  mysteries  professed  to  exact  nothing  difficult  of  the  initi- 
ated, which  they  \vould  not  assist  him  to  perform.  It  was  necessary, 
then,  to  remedy  this  evil ;  which  they  did  by  striking  at  the  root  of 
it.  So  that,  such  of  the  initiated  as  were  judged  capable,  were 
made  acquainted  wdth  the  whole  delusion.  The  mystagogue 
taught  them,  that  Jupiter,  Mercury,  Bacchus,  Venus,  Mars,  and  the 
whole  rabble  of  licentious  deities,  were  only  dead  mortals,  subject  in 
life  to  the  same  passions  and  infirmities  with  themselves,  but  having 
been,  on  other  accounts,  benefactors  to  mankind,  grateful  posterity  had 
deified  them,  and,  with  their  virtues,  had  indiscreetly  cannonized  their 
vices.*  The  fabulous  gods  being  thus  routed,  the  supreme  cause  of  all 
things  naturally  took  their  place.  Him  they  were  taught  to  consider 
as  the  creator  of  the  universe,  who  pervaded  all  things  by  his  virtue,  and 
governed  all  by  his  providence.  But  here  it  must  be  observed,  that  the 
discovery  of  this  supreme  cause  was  made  consistent  with  the  notion  of 
local  tutelary  deities,  beings  superior  lo  men,  and  inferior  to  God,  and 
by  him  set  over  the  several  parts  of  his  creation.  This  was  an  opinion 
universally  holdenby  antiquity,  and  never  brought  into  question  by  any 
theist.  What  the  aporreta  overthrew,  was  the  vulgar  polytheism,  the 
worshipof  dead  men.  From  this  time,  the  initiated  had  the  title  of 
Epoptes,  by  which  was  meant  one  that  sees  things  as  they  are  and  with- 
out  disguise ;  whereas,  before  he  was  called  Mystes,  which  has  a  con- 
trary signification. 

But  besides  the  prevention  of  vice,  the  detection  of  the  national  gods 


and  in  the  fifth  act  of  Hercules  Furens,  Theseus  comforts  his  friend  by  the  examples  of 
the  crimes  of  the  gods.  See  likewise  his  Hyppolitus,  act.  ii.  sc.  ii.  The  learned  and 
ingenious  Mr.  Seward,  in  his  tract  oithe  covformity  between  popery  and  paganism,  has 
taken  notice  of  aditficult  passage  in  this  tragedy,  which  he  has  very  ably  explained,  on 
the  system  here  delivered  of  the  detection  of  Polytheism  in  the  sacred  mysteries. 

♦  When  St.  Austin,  (Civ.  de',  lib.  ii.  cap.  7.  8)  had  quoted  the  E^o  homunico  hoc  non 
facerem,  to  show  what  mischief  these  stories  did  lo  the  morals  of  the  people;  he  makes 
the  defcndt^rs  of  paganism  reply,  that  it  was  true,  but  then  these  things  were  only 
taught  in  the  fables  of  the  poeis,  which  an  attention  to  the  mysteries  would  rectify; 
this  the  father  cannot  deny ;  but  observes  however,  that  in  the  then  corrupt 
state  of  the  mysteries  the  remedy  was  become  part  of  the  disease;  "Nolo 
dicere  ilia  mystica  quam  ista  theatrica  esse  turpiora." 


THE    ANCIENT    MYSTERIES.  UI 

had  another  important  use,  which  was  to  excite  men  to  heroic  virtue, 
by  showing  them  what  honors  the  benefactors  of  notions  had  acquired, 
by  the  free  exercise  of  it.  And  this,  as  will  be  shown  hereafter,  was 
the  chief  reason  why  princes,  statesmen,  and  leaders  of  colonies  and 
armies  all  aspired  to  be  partakers  of  the  greater  mysteries. 

Thus  we  see,  how  what  was  taught  and  required  in  the  lesser  mys- 
teries, became  the  foundation  of  instruction  in  the  greater;  the  obliga- 
Uon  to  a  good  life- there,  made  it  necessary  to  remove  the  errors  of  vul- 
gar polytheism  here ;  and  the  doctrine  of  a  providence  taught  previ- 
ously in  those,  facilitated  the  reception  of  the  sole  cause  of  all  things, 
when  finally  revealed  in  these.  Such  were  the  truths  which  Varro^ 
as  quoted  above,  tells  us  it  was  expedient  for  the  people  to  know.* 
He  supposed,  indeed,  the  error  of  vulgar  polytheism  to  be  so  inveterate, 
that  it  was  not  to  be  expelled  without  throwing  society  into  convulsions, 
But  Plato  spoke  out»  he  owned  it  to  be  "  difficult  to  find  the  father  and 
creator  of  the  universe;  and,  when  found,  impossible  to  discover  him 
to  all  the  world." — (In  Timeeo.) 

Besides,  there  was  another  reason  why  the  institutors  of  the  myste- 
ries, who  were  lawgivers,  should  be  for  keeping  this  truth  a  secret. 
They  had  had,  themselves,  the  chief  hand  in  the  rise  of  vulgar  polythe- 
ism. They  contrived  it  for  the  sake  of  the  state ;  and  to  keep  the  peo- 
ple in  awe,  under  a  greater  veneration  for  their  laws.  This  polytheism 
^he  poets  had  depraved,  by  inventing  or  recording  vicious  stories  of  the 
gods  and  heroes,  which  the  lawgivers  were  willing  to  have  stifled.  And 
they  were  only  such  stories,  that,  in  their  opinion,  as  may  be  seen  in 
Plato,  made  Polytheism  hurtful  to  the  state. 

That  this  accounts  for  the  secret  in  the  greater  mysteries,  is  no  pre- 
carious hypothesis,  raised  merely  on  conjecture,  I  shall  now  endeavior 
to  show. 

First,  from  the  clear  evidence  of  antiquity,  which  expressly  informs 
us  of  these  two  particulars.  That  the  errors  of  polytheism  were  detectedi 
and  the  doctrine  of  the  unity  taught  and  explained  in  the  mysteries. 
But  here  it  is  to  be  observed,  that  when  the  ancients  speak  of  mysteries 
indefinitely,  they  generally  mean  the  greater. 

*  These  two  were  the  truths  which  the  pontifex  Scaevola,  said  were  to  be  kept  hid 
from  the  people.  "It  is  recorded  in  books  that  Scsevola,  a  very  learned  pontiff,  argued 
that  three  kinds  of  gods  had  been  handed  down  to  us,  one  by  the  poets,  another  by  the 
philosophers,  the  third  by  the  rulers  of  the  state.  The  first  kind  he  says  is  worthless — 
the  second  not  suitable  for  commonwealths,  because  it  contains  ce  tain  things,  the 
knowledge  of  which  is  prejudicial  to  the  people.  What  then  are  those  things  which 
are  prejudicial  to  the  multitude?  "These,"  he  says,  "  that  Hercules,  Esculapius,  Castor, 
Pollux,  are  not  gods,  but  were  men  who  departed  human  \i[G.—Augv^tin  de  Civit. 
Dei,  lib,  it.  cap.  27. 


112  A    DISSERTATION    ON 

It  hath  been  shown,  that  the  Grecian  and  Asiatic  Mysteries  came 
originally  from  Egypt.  Now,  of  the  Egyptian,  St.  Austin  giveth  us 
this  remarkable  account.  "Of  the  same  nature,  too,  are  those  things 
which  Alexander  of  Macedon  wrote  to  his  mother,  as  revealed  unto  him 
by  one  Leo,*  chief  hierophant  of  the  Egyptian  mysteries,  whereby  it 
appeared,  that  not  only  such  as  Picus,  and  Faunus,  and  Eneas,  and 
Romulus,  nay  Hercules,  and  Esculapius,  and  Bacchus  the  son  of  Semele^ 
and  Castor,  and  Pollux,  and  all  others  of  the  same  rank,  had  been 
advanced,  from  the  condition  of  mortality,  into  gods,  but  that  even  those 
deities  of  the  higher  order,  the  Dii  majorum  gentium,  those  whom  Cicero 
without  naming  seems  to  carp  at,  in  his  Tusculans,  such  as  Jupiter, 
Juno,  Saturn,  Neptune,  Vulcan,  Vesta,  and  many  others,  whom  Varro 
endeavors  to  allegorize  into  the  elements  or  parts  of  the  world,  were, 
in  truth,  only  mortal  men.  But  the  priest  being  under  great  fears  and 
apprehensions,  while  he  was  telling  this,  as  conscious  he  was  betraying 
the  secret  of  the  mysteries,  begged  of  Alexander,  when  he  found  that 
he  intended  to  communicate  it  to  his  mother,  that  he  would  enjoin  her 
to  burn  the  letter,  as  soon  as  she  had  read  it."t 

To  understand  the  concluding  part,  we  are  to  know,  that  Cyprian, 
who  has  also  preserved  this  curious  anecdote,  tells  us,  it  was  the  dread 
of  Alexander's  power,  which  extorted  the  secret  from  the  hierophant. J 
All  this  well  illustrates  a  passage  in  Lucian's  council  of  the  gods ; 
when  after  Momus  had  ridiculed  the  monstrous  deities  of  Egypt,  Jupi- 
ter replies,  "  it  is  true  that  these  are  abominable  things,  which  you 
mention  of  ,the  Egyptian  worship.     But  then,  consider,  Momus,  that 

*  It  is  not  improbable  but  this  might  be  a  name  of  office.  Porphyry  in  his  fourth 
book  of  abstinence^  informs  us  that  the  priests  of  the  mysteries  of  Mithras  were  called 
lions  the  priestesses  lionesses,  and  the  inferior  ministers  ravens.  For  there  was  a  great 
conformity,  in  the  practices  and  ceremonies  of  the  several  mysteries,  throughout  the 
whole  pagan  world.  And  this  conjecture  is  supported  by  a  passage  in  Eunapius,  which 
seems  to  say,  that  it  was  unlawful  to  reveal  the  name  of  the  hierophant. 

In  the  modern  degree  of  masonry,  called  knight  of  the  Eagle,  ana  sovereign  prince  of 
Rose  Cross  de  Heroden,  the  aspirant  "  solemnly  promises  on  his  honor,  never  to  reveal 
the  place  where  he  was  received,  who  receivea  him,  nor  those  who  were  present  at  his 
reception." 

Also  in  the  degree  of  "  knight  of  Kadosh,"  "  when  a  reception  is  made,  the  great 
commander  remains  alone  in  the  chapter  with  the  candidate,  and  must  be  so  situated 
that  the  latter  cannot  see  him,  as  he  is  not  to  know  who  initiates  him."  (Bernard.) — Edit. 

1 1  suppose  this  communication  to  his  mother,  might  be  to  let  her  understand,  that 
he  was  no  longer  the  dupe  of  her  fine  story  of  Jupiter's  intrusion,  and  the  intrigue  of  his 
divine  original.  For  Erastosthenes,  accordmg  to  Plutarch,  says,  that  Olympias,  when 
she  brougnt  Alexander  on  his  way  to  the  army,  in  his  first  niihtary  expedition,  acquainted 
him  in  private  with  the  secret  of  his  birth;  and  exhorted  him  to  behave  himself  as 
became  the  son  of  Jupiter  Hammon.  This,  I  suppose,  Alexander  might  tell  to  the  priest 
and  so  the  murder  came  out. 

tBut  this  is  a  mistake,  at  least  it  is  expressed  inaccurately.  What  was  extorted 
by  ihe  dread  of  Alexander's  power,  was  not  the  secret,  which  the  initiated  had  a  right 
to,  but  the  priest's  consent  that  he  should  communicate  the  secret  to  another,  which  wa» 
contrary  to  the  laws  of  the  mysteries. 


THE    ANCIENT    MYSTERIES.  113 

much  of  it  is  enigmatical ;  and  so,  consequently,  a  very  unfit  subject 
for  the  buffoonry  of  the  profane  and  uninitiated."  To  which  the  other 
answers  with  much  spirit,  "  Yes,  indeed,  we  have  great  occasion  for 
the  mysteries,  to  know  that  gods  are  gods,  and  monsters,  monsters." 

But  Tully  brings  the  matter  home  to  the  Eleusinian  mysteries 
themselves,  "  What,  says  he,  is  not  almost  all  heaven,  not  to  carry  on 
this  detail  any  further,  filled  with  the  human  race?  But  if  I  should 
search  and  examine  antiquity,  and  from  those  things  which  the  Gre- 
cian writers  have  delivered,  go  to  the  bottom  of  this  affair,  it  would  be 
found,  that  even  those  very  gods  themselves  who  are  deemed  the  Dii 
majorum  gentium,  had  their  original  here  below  ;  and  ascended  from 
hence  into  heaven.  Inquire,  to  whom  those  sepulchers  belong, 
which  are  so  commonly  shown  in  Greece.  Remember,  for  you  are 
initiated,  what  you  have  been  taught  in  the  mysteries ;  you  will 
then  at  length  understand  how  far  this  matter  may  be  carried. — {Tusc. 
Disp,  lib.  i.  cap.  13, 

He  carries  it  further  himself,  for  he  tells  us  in  another  place,  that  not 
only  the  Eleusinian  Mysteries,  but  the  Samothracian  likewise,  and  the 
Lemnian  taught  the  error  of  polytheism,  agreeably  to  this  system,  w'lich 
supposes  all  the  mysteries  derived  from  the  same  original,  and  consti- 
tuted for  the  same  ends.  "What  think  you,  siys  he,  of  those  who 
assert,  that  valiant,  or  famous,  or  powerful  men,  have  obtained  divine 
honors  after  death,  and  that  these  are  the  very  gods,  now  become  the 
object  of  our  worship,  our  prayers  and  adoration?  Euhemerus  tells  us, 
when  these  gods  died,  and  where  they  lie  buried.  I  forbear  to  speak  of 
the  sacred  and  august  rights  of  Eleusis — I  pass  by  Samothrace,  and 
the  mysteries  of  Lemnos,  whose  hidden  rites  are  celebrated  in  darkness, 
and  amidst  the  thick  shades  of  groves  and  forests." 


Here  the  author  comments  at  considerable  length  on  an  equivocal  passage  of  Cicero, 
immediately  following  that  here  quoted,  "  which,  he  says,  M.  Pluche,  in  his  Histoire 
du  Cid,  brings  to  prove,  that  the  purpose  of  the  mysteries  was  not  to  explain  the 
nature  of  the  gods."  His  criticism  goes  to  show  the  absurdity  of  this  inference.  He 
thus  concludes  his  remarks : 

"It  had  hardly  been  worthwhile  to  take  this  notice  of  M.  Pluche' s  interpretation  of 
Cicero,  had  it  not  been  evident,  that  his  purpose  in  it  was  to  disguise  the  liberty  he  took 
of  transcribing  the  general  explanation  of  the  mysteries,  as  delivered  in  the  first  edition 
of  this  volume,  printed  in  1738,  into  the  second  edition  of  his  book,  called  Uistoire  du 
Cid,  printed  in  1741,  without  the  least  notice  or  acknowledgment." 

That  Mr.  Pluche  may  have  taken  some  of  his  ideas  on  the  mysteries  from  the  bishop's 
book,  is  highly  probable,  but  his  work  certainly  possesses  suflacient  originaUty  to  prove 

15 


114  A    DISSERTATION    OIC 

the  laborious  investigations  of  the  author,  upon  ground  not  previously  occupied,  to 
establish  his  fame  as  an  ingenious  acute  writer.  In  the  disagreement  of  these  authors 
in  regard  to  the  purport  of  the  mysteries,  the  bishop  has  undoubtedly  the  advantage  : 
he  had  evidently  paid  more  attention  to  the  subject  than  his  cotemporary.  The  abbe 
was  deceived  by  Cicero,  in  whom  he  appeared  to  place  implicit  confidence ;  but  he  should 
have  remembered,  that  Cicero  had  been  initiated  into  the  Eleusinian  mysteries,  and, 
therefore,  no  doubt,  felt  under  restraint  when  speaking  of  them.  Besides,  he  had  four 
characters  to  sustain ;  that  of  a  philosopher,  a  statesman,  a  lawyer,  and  an  augur  or 
priest;  in  the  due  support  of  which,  his  popularity  was,  more  or  less,  involved.  A 
striking  instance  of  the  incompatibility  with  each  other  of  the  first  and  last  mentioned 
of  these  characters,  is  exhibited  by  him,  in  the  passage  just  quoted  above  and  that  before 
cited,  in  which  he  says,  "Let  the  gods,  and  those  who  were  ever  reckoned  in  the  num- 
her  of  the  celestials,  be  worshipped :  and  those  likewise,  whom  their  merits  have  raised 
to  heaven  ;  such  as  Hercules,  Bacchus,  Esculapius,  Pollux,  and  Romulus."  Here  the 
augur  and  the  philosopher  are  at  complete  issue.  Two  sentiments  more  du-ectly  in 
opposition  could  not  be  entertained ;  and  it  is  surprising  the  bishop  did  not  notice  their 
total  contrariety. 


What  hath  been  said,  will  let  us  into  the  meaning  of  Plutarch's 
hint,  in  the  following  words  of  his  tract  concerning  the  ceasing  of  oracles. 
**As  to  the  mysteries,  in  whose  representations  the  true  nature  of 
demons  is  clearly  and  accurately  held  forth,  a  sacred  silence,  to  use  an 
expression  of  Herodotus,  is  to  be  observed." 

Thus  far  in  detection  of  polytheism.  With  regard  to  the  doctrine 
of  the  unity,  Clemens  Alexandrinus  informs  us,  that  the  Egyptian  mysta- 
gogues  taught  it  amongst  their  greater  secrets.  "  The  Egyptians," 
says  he,  "  did  not  use  to  reveal  their  mysteries  indiscriminately  to  all, 
nor  expose  their  truths  concerning  their  gods  to  the  profane,  but  to  those 
only  who  were  to  succeed  to  the  administration  of  the  state :  and  to  such 
of  the  priests  as  were  most  approved,  by  their  education,  learning,  and 
quality." 

But,  to  come  to  the  Grecian  mysteries.  Chrysippus,  as  quoted  by 
the  author  of  the  Etymol.  magnum,  speaks  to  this  purpose.  "And 
Chrysippus  saj'S,  that  the  secret  doctrines  concerning  divine  matters,  are 
rightly  called  Teletai,  for  that  these  are  the  last  things  the  initiated 
should'be  informed  of :  the  soul  having  gained  an  able  support ;  and, 
being  possessed  of  her  desires,  (that  is,  the  mistress  of  herself,)  can 
keep  silent  before  the  uninitiated  and  profane."  To  the  same  purpose, 
Clemens :  "  The  doctrines'delivered  in  the  greater  mysteries,  are  con- 
cerning the  universe.  Here  all  instruction  ends.  Things  are  seen  a$ 
they  are  ;  and  nature,  and  the  things  of  nature,  are  given  to  be  com- 
prehended." 

Strabo  having  said,  that  nature  dictated  to  men  the  institution  of  the 
mysteries,  as  well  as  the  other  rites  of  religion,  gives  this  remarkable 


THE    ANCIENT    MYSTERIES,  115 

reason  for  his  assertion,  "  that  the  secret  celebration  of  the  mysteries 
preserves  the  majestj'-  due  to  the  divinity,  and,  at  the  same  time,  imitates 
its  nature,  which  hides  itself  from  our  senses."*  '  A  plain  intimation  of 
the  nature  of  the  secret.  And  had  there  been  any  ambiguity,  he  pre- 
sently removes  it,  where,  speaking  of  the  different  faculties  exercised  in 
the  different  rites  of  religion,  he  makes  philosophy  to  be  the  object  of  the 
mysteries.  Plutarch  expressly  says,  that  the  first  cause  of  all  things  is 
communicated  to  those  who  approach  the  temple  of  Isis  with  prudence 
and  sanctity.  By  which  words  he  means,  the  necessary  qualifications 
for  initiation. 

We  find  Galen  intimating,  not  obscurely,  that  the  doctrine  of  the 
divine  nature  was  taught  in  those  very  mysteries.  In  his  excellent 
tract  Of  the  use  of  the  parts  of  the  human  body,  he  has  these  words  : 
*'  The  study,  therefore,  of  the  use  of  the  parts,  is  not  only  of  service  to 
the  mere  physician,  but  of  much  greater  to  him  who  joins  philosophy 
to  the  art  of  healing;  and,  inorder.to  perfect  himself  in  this  mystery, 
labors  to  investigate  the  universal  nature.  They  who  initiate  them- 
selves here,  whether  private  men  or  bodies,  will  find,  in  my  opinion, 
nobler  instruction  than  in  the  rites  either  of  Eleusis  or  Samothrace.  A 
clear  implication,  that  to  lead  men  thither  was  their  special  business. 

But  this  seems  to  have  been  so  well  known  to  the  learned  in  the  time 
ofEusebius,  that  where  this  writer  takes  occasion  to  observe,  that  the 
Hebrews  were  the  only  people  whose  object,  in  their  public  and  national 
worship,  was  the  god  of  the  universe,  he  suits  his  whole  expression,  by 
one  continued  metaphor,  to  the  usuages  of  the  mysteries.  "  For  the 
Hebrew  people  alone,"  says  he,  "  was  reserved  the  honor  of  being  initia- 
ted into  the  knowledge  of  God  the  creator  of  all  things,  and  of  being 
instructed  in  the  practice  of  true  piety  towards  him.  Where,  Epopteia, 
which  signifies  the  inspection  of  the  secret ;  Theopia,  the  contemplation 
of  it ;  and  Demiourgos,  the  creator,  the  subject  of  it,  are  all  words 
appropriated  to  the  secret  of  the  greater  mysteries.  I  am  persuaded 
this  learned  writer  had  his  eye  on  some  particular  passage  of  scripture ; 
probably  on  the  45th  chapter  of  Isaiah,  where  the  prophet,  foretelling 
the  conquests  of  Cyrus,  and  the  exaltation  of  his  empire,  apostrophises 
the  God  of  Israel  in  this  manner,  "  Verily  thou  art  a  God  that  hidest 
thyself,  O  God  of  Israel  the  Saviour."  This  was  said  with  great  pro- 
priety of  the  creator  of  all  things,  the  subject  of  the  Apo.rreta  or  secret, 

*  Here  Strabo  takes  in  all  that  is  said,  both  of  the  gods,  and  of  nature,  in  the  two  pre- 
ceding passages  from  Crysippus  and  Clemens ;  and  snows  that  by  nature  is  not  me«at 
thecosmical  but  theological  nature. 


116  A    DISSERTATION    ON 

in  all  the  mysteries  ihroughout  the  Gentile  world  ;  and  particularly  of 
of  those  of  Mithras,  in  the  country  which  was  the  scene  of  the  pro- 
phecy. That  this  is  the  true  sense  of  this  ohscure  passage,  appears  from 
the  fpllowing  words  of  the  same  chapter,  where  God  himself  addresseth 
the  Jewish  people :  "  I  have  not  spoken  in  secret,  in  a  dark  pUce  of  the 
earth :  I  said  not  unto  the  seed  of  Jacob,  seek  ye  me  in  vain."  This 
was  said,  to  show  that  he  was  taught  amongst  them  in  a  difierent  way 
from  that  participation  of  his  nature  to  a  few  select  Gentiles,  in  their 
mysteries;  celebrated  in  secret,  and  in  dark  subterraneous  places; 
which  not  being  done  in  order  to  give  him  glory,  by  promoting  his 
public  and  general  worship,  was  done  in  vain. 

This  naturally  leads  us  to  the  explanation  of  those  oracles  of  Apollo^ 
quoted  by  Eusebius  from  Porphyry ;  the  sense  of  which  neither  those 
ancient  writers,  nor  our  Sir  John  Marsham  seem  rightly  to  have  under- 
stood. The  first  is  in  these  words,  "  The  way  to  the  knowledge  of  the 
divine  nature  is  extremely  rugged,  and  of  difficult  ascent.  The 
entrance  is  secured  by  brazen  gates,  opening  to  the  adventurer ;  and 
the  roads  to  be  passed  through,  impossible  to  be  described.  These,  to 
the  vast  benefit  of  mankind,  were  first  marked  out  by  the  Egyptians." 

The  second  is  as  follows : — 

"  True  wisdom  Avas  the  lot  only  of  the  Chaldeans  and  Hebrews, 
who  worship  the  governor  of  the  world,  the  self-existent  deity,  with  pure 
and  holy  rites." 

Marsham,  supposing  after  Eusebius,  that  the  same  thing  was  spoken 
of  in  both  the  oracles,  says,  "  Certainly  there  can  be  no  controversy, 
that,  as  the  religious  belief  of  the  Hebrews  in  One  Supreme  Being,  was 
esteen  ed  very  correct,  the  same  belief  by  the  Egyptians  was  equally 
estimable."  And  again, — "  The  truth  is,  Apollo  was  little  consistent 
with  himself;  because  in  the  one  oracle,  the  Egyptians  are  said  to  be 
the  first ;  and  in  the  other,  the  Chaldeans  and  Hebrews  the  only  people 
who  knew  the  true  God."  But  they  are  perfectly  consistent ;  they  treat 
of  different  things  :  the  first,  of  the  knowledge  of  the  true  God  ;  and  the 
second  of  his  public  worship. 

I  will  only  observe,  that  the  frights  and  terrors  to  which  the  initia- 
ted were  exposed,  gave  birth  to  all  those  metaphorical  terms  of  diffi- 
culty and  danger  so  constantly  employed  by  the  Greek  writers,  when- 
ever they  speak  of  the  communication  of  the  true  God. 


Thomas  Taylor,  in  a  note  to  his  translation  of  Jamblichus  on  the  mysteries  of  the 
EgjTptians,  Chaldeans,  and  Assyrians,  has  rendered  the  foregoing  oracle  in  verse,  agreo- 
|)le  to  the  original ;  which  he  introduces  as  follows ; 


THE    ANCIENT    MYSTERIES.  117 

Most  historians  give  the  palm  of  antiquity  to  the  Egyptians.  And  Lucian,  in  lib.  De 
Dea,  says,  "That  the  Egyptians  are  said  to  be  the  first  among  men  that  had  a  concep- 
tion of  the  gods,  and  a  knowledge  of  sacred  concerns.  They  were  also  the  first  that 
had  a  knowledge  of  sacred  names J^  Conformably  to  this  also,  an  oracle  of  Apollo, 
quoted  by  Eusebius,  says  that  the  Egyptians  were  the  first  that  disclosed  by  infinite 
actions  the  path  that  leads  to  the  gods.     The  oracle  is  as  follows : 

"The  path  by  which  to  deity  we  climb, 
Is  arduous,  rough,  ineffable,  sublime  ; 
And  the  strong  massy  gates,  through  which  we  pass 
In  our  first  course,  are  bound  witii  chains  of  brass. 
Those  men  the  first  who  of  Egyptian  birth 
Drank  the  fair  water  of  Nilotic  earth. 
Disclosed  by  actions  infinite  this  road, 
And  many  paths  to  God  Fhenicians  showed. 
This  road  the  Assyrians  pointed  out  to  view, 
And  this  the  Lydians  and  Chaldeans  knew. "—(p.  295.) 

Mr.  Taylor  has  substituted  Lydians  for  Hebrews,  under  a  suspicion,  as  he  says,  that 
either  Aristobulus,  well  known  for  interpolating  the  writings  of  the  Heathens,  or  Eusebius, 
had  fraudulently  inserted  the  latter. 

Means  are  taken  to  produce  a  like  terror  as  spoken  of  above,  in  candidates  for  royal 
arch  masonry.  They  are  advised,  that  "  It  will  be  necessary  for  them  to  pass  through 
many  trials,  and  to  travel  in  rough  and  rugged  ways,  to  prove  their  fidelity."  The 
gates  alluded  to  in  the  oracle  of  Apollo,  which  secure  the  entrance  to  the  knowledge  of 
the  divine  nature,  are  actually  represented  in  the  scenery  of  this  degree.  The  true  name 
of  the  Supreme  Being  is  affected  to  be  communicated ;  and  in  an  address  to  him  are  the 
following  expressions  :  "  Teach  us,  we  pray  thee,  the  true  reverence  of  thy  great,  mighty 
and  terrible  name." 

In  a  German  work,  by  C.  L.  Reinhold,  entitled  The  Hebrew  mysteries,  or  the  oldest 
religious  Freemasonry,  it  is  affirmed,  "  That  the  whole  Mosaic  religion  was  an  initia- 
tion into  mysteries,  the  principal  forms  and  regulations  of  which  were  borrowed  by 
Moses  from  the  secrets  of  the  old  Egyptians." 

Josephus,  to  the  same  purpose,  says  that,  ^^  That  high  and  sublime  knowledge,  which 
the  Gentiles  with  difficulty  attained,  in  the  rare  and  temporary  celebration  of  their  mys- 
teries, was  habitually  taught  to  the  Jews,  at  all  times.  So  that  the  body  politic  seems, 
as  it  were,  one  great  assembly,  constantly  kept  together,  for  the  celebration  of  some 
sacred  mysteriesJ^ 

The  two  great  mysterious  secrets  of  the  Egyptians,  it  has  been  seen,  were  the  exist- 
ence of  one  Supreme  Being,  implying  the  error  of  polytheism ;  and  a  future  state  of 
rewards  and  punishments  for  acts  committed  in  this  life.  The  former  of  which  only, 
it  appears,  was  taught  to  the  Jews.  This  is  likewise  communicated  to  the  masons  ef  the 
royal  arch  degree,  and  is  the  only  secret  of  the  order. 

It  is  true,  it  was  formerly  enjoined  upon  the  Jews  to  observe  certain  rites  and  cere- 
monies, which  were  then  adapted  to  their  peculiar  circumstances ;  but  which  by  the 
coming  of  Christ  were  rendered  vain  and  useless,  and  were  accordingly  abrogated  by 
the  new  dispensation.*  For  instance,  they  were  taught  that  a  person  became  defiled 
by  touching  a  human  corpse,  aiid  their  priests  were  absolutely  prohibited  from  doing  it. 
So,  at  interments  of  their  dead,  those  who  enter  the  cemetery  wash  their  hands  on 
retiring,  bowls  of  water  and  napkins  being  furnished  for  the  purpose. 

♦"But  notwithstanding  he  (Christ)  obtained  a  more  excellent  ministry,  by  how 
much  also  he  is  the  meditator  of  a  better  covenant,  which  was  estabhshed  upon  better 
promises.  For  if  that  first  covenant  had  been  faultless,  then  should  no  place  have  been 
Bought  for  the  second."   (Hebrews  viii.  6-7. 


118  A    DISSERTATION    ON 

The  idea  of  defilement  by  touching  human  dead  bodies,  was  also  a  pagan  doctrine 
for  which  Jamblichus  gives  the  following  reasons  : 

"It  is  not  lawful  to  touch  human  dead  bodies  when  the  soul  has  left  them,  since  a 
vestige,  image,  or  representation  of  divine  life  is  extinguished  in  the  body  by  death. 
But  it  is  no  longer  unholy  to  touch  other  dead  bodies,  because  they  did  not  participate  of 
a  more  divine  life.  To  other  gods,  therefore,  who  are  pure  from  matter,  our  not  touch- 
ing dead  bodies  is  adapted  ;  but  to  those  gods  who  preside  over  animals,  and  are  proxi- 
mately connected  with  them,  invocation  through  animals  is  properly  made."— (Taylor's 
Trans,  p.  275  ) 

As  to  the  mystery  of  obtaining  remission  of  sins,  by  the  performance  of  certain 
mystic  rites,  as  is  customary  with  the  Jews  at  this  time,  on  what  are  called  atonement 
days,the  secret  is  fully  known  to  Roman  Catholic  priests,  and  practised  upon  by  them 
with  equal  success. 

In  "A  brief  Examination  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Warburton's  Divine  Legation  of  Moses  :" 
London,  1742,  are  the  following  remarks : 

"  We  have  no  profane  records  that  can  reach,  by  many  hundred  years,  so  high  as 
the  ancient  state  and  constitution  of  the  religion  and  priesthood  of  Egypt,  in  and  before 
the  days  of  Moses.  But  as  the  Mosaic  constitution  itself  was  accommodated  to  the 
natural  temper  and  bias  of  a  people  perfectly  Egyptianized,  and  who  knew  nothing  but 
the  language,  religion,  laws,  and  customs  of  Egypt;  and  as  this  people  could  never  be 
brought  off  from  the  religon  and  customs  to  which  they  had  been  naturalized,  the  history 
of  Moses  and  the  prophets  gives  one  almost  as  just  and  adequate  a  notion  of  the  religion, 
priesthood,  and  worship  of  Egypt,  as  if  their  own  history  had  been  handed  down  to  us. 
Of  this  we  need  no  other,  or  more  authentic  authority  than  our  learned  author's  own 
concessions,  who  has  granted  as  much  in  this  respect  as  could  have  been  desired.  And 
though  Moses  attempted,  in  his  law,  to  reform  the  religion  of  Egypt,  with  regard  to 
their  symbolical  polytheism,  or  siderial  worship  by  images;  yet  this  could  never  be 
effected,  but  the  gross  of  the  people  still  continued  in  the  symbohcal  worship  of  Egypt, 
except  when  restrained  from  it  by  force  and  compulsion  under  some  of  their  kings. 
But  they  immediately  fell  back  again  to  the  same  sort  of  religion  and  worship,  as  soon 
as  that  restriction  and  legal  persecution  were  relaxed  or  taken  off." 


Thus,  I  think  it  appears,  that  the  Aporreta,  in  the  greater  mysteries^ 
were  the  detection  of  the  origin  of  vulgar  polytheism;*  and  the  dis- 
covery of  the  doctrine  of  the  unity. 

I  will  venture  to  go  further ;  and  give  the  very  history  repeated, 
and  the  very  hymn  sung,  on  these  occasions  to  the  initiated :  in  the  first 
of  which  was  delivered  the  true  origin  and  progress  of  vulgar  poly- 
theism ;  and  in  the  other,  the  unity  of  the  deity. 

♦  What  hath  been  said  will  give  light  to  a  strange  story  told  by  Thucydides,  Plutarch, 
and  others,  of  a  debauch  and  night  ramble  of  Alcibiades,  just  before  his  expedition  to  Syra- 
cuse. In  which,  they  say,  he  revealed  to,  and  acted  over  with  his  companions,  the 
mysteries  of  Ceres :  that  he  assumed  the  office  of  the  hierophant,  and  called  some  of 
those  he  initiated  Mystai,  and  others  Epoptai:  and  that,  lastly,  they  Jsroke  all  the 
statues  of  Hermes.  These  are  mentioned  as  distinct  actions,  ana  unconnected  with 
one  another.  But  now  we  see  their  relation,  and  how  one  arose  from  the  other :  for 
Alcibiades  having  revealed  the  origin  of  polytheism,  and  the  doctrine  of  the  unity,  to 
his  companions;  nothing  was  more  natural  than  for  men,  heated  with  wine,  to  run  forth 
in  a  kind  of  religious  fury,  and  break  the  statues  of  their  idols.  For,  what  he  acted  over, 
was  the  greater  mysteries,  as  appears  from  Plutarch's  calling  them  the  mysteries  of 
Ceres,  ana  from  Alcibiades'  calling  some  Epoptai,  the  name  of  those  who  participated 
of  tho  greater  mysteries. 


THE    ANCIENT    MYSTERlfiS.  U9 

For  it  appears  to  me,  that  the  celebrated  fragment  of  Sanchoniatho 
the  Phenician,  translated  by  Philo  Byblius,  and  preserved  by  Eusebius, 
conta'ning  a  genealogical  jiccount  of  the  first  ages,  is  that  history,  as  it 
was  wont  to  be  read  to  the  initiated,  in  the  celebration  of  the  Egyptian 
and  Phenician  mysteries.  The  purpose  of  it  being  to  inform  us,  that 
their  popular  gods  (whose  chronicle  is  there  given  according  to  their 
generations)  were  only  dead  men  deified. 

And  as  this  curious  and  authentic  record  (for  such  we  shall  find  it 
was)  not  only  serves  to  illustrate  the  subject  we  are  now  upon,  but  will 
be  of  use  to  support  what  is  said  hereafter  of  the  rise,  progress,  and 
order  of  the  several  species  of  ancient  idolatry,  it  may  not  be  improper 
to  give  a  short  extract  of  it  in  this  place. 

He  tells  us,  then,  that,  "of  the  two  first  mortals,  Protogonus  and 
JEiOn,  (the  latter  of  whom  was  the  author  of  seeking  and  procuring 
food  from  forest-trees)  were  begotten  Genos  and  Genea.  These,  in  the 
time  of  great  droughts,  stretched  their  hands^upwards  to  the  sun,  whom 
they  regarded  as  a  god,  and  sole  ruler  of  the  heavens.  From  these, 
after  two  or  three  generations,  came  Upsouranios  and  his  brother 
Ousous.  One  of  them  invented  the  art  of  building  cottages  of  reeds  and 
rushes ;  the  other  the  art  of  making  garments  of  the  skins  of  wild 
beasts.  In  their  time,  violent  tempests  of  wind  and  rain  having  rubbed 
the  large  branches  of  the  forest-trees  against  one  another,  they  took  fire, 
and  burnt  up  the  woods.  Of  the  bare  trunks  of  trees,  they  first  made 
vessels  to  pass  the  waters ;  they  consecrated  two  pillars  to  fire  and 
wind,  and  then  offered  bloody  sacrifices  to  them  as  to  gods."  And  here 
let  it  be  observed,  that  this  worship  of  the  elements  and  heavenly  bodies 
is  truly  represented  as  the  first  species  of  idolatry. 

"  After  many  generations,  came  Chrysor ;  and  he  likewise  invented 
many  things  useful  to  civil  life;  for  which,  afler  his  decease,  he  was 
worshipped  as  a  god.  Then  flourished  Ouranos  and  his  sister  Ge ; 
who  deified  and  offered  sacrifices  to  their  father  Upsistos,  when  he  had 
been  torn  in  pieces  by  wild  beasts.  Afterwards  Cronos  consecrated 
Muth  his  son,  and  was  himself  consecrated  by  his  subjects."  And  this 
is  as  truly  represented  to  be  the  second  species  of  idolatry ;  the  wor- 
ship of  dead  men. 

He  goes  on,  and  says,  that  "  Ouranos  was  the  inventor  oftheBaBtylia, 
a  kind  of  animated  stones,  framed  with  great  art.  And  that  Taautus 
formed  allegoric  figures,  characters,  and  images  of  the  celestial  gods  and 
elements."  In  which  is  delivered  the  third  species  of  idolatry,  statue 
and  brute  worship.      For  by  the  animated  stones,  is  meant  stones  cut 


120  A    DISSERTATION    ON 

into  human  shape;  brute,  unformed  stones  being  before  this  invention 
consecrated  and  adored.  As  by  Taautus's  invention  of  allegoric 
figures,  is  insinuated  (what  was  truly  the  fact)  the  origin  of  brute  wor- 
ship from  the  use  of  hieroglyph. ls. 

This  is  a  very  short  and  imperfect  extract  of  the  fragment ;  many 
particulars,  to  avoid  tediousness,  are  omitted,  which  would  much  sup- 
port what  we  are  upon,  particularly  a  minute  detail  of  the  principal  arts 
invented  for  the  use  of  civil  life.  But  what  has  been  selected  on  this 
head,  will  afTord  a  good  comment  to  a  celebrated  passage  of  Cicero, 
quoted,  in  this  section,  on  another  occasion. — As  the  two  important 
doctrines,  taught  in  secret,  were  the  detection  of  polytheism,  and  the 
discovery  of  the  unity ;  so,  the  two  capital  doctrines  taught  more  openly, 
were  the  origin  of  society  with  the  arts  of  life,  and  the  existence  of  the 
soul  after  death  in  a  state  of  reward  or  punishments. 

The  fragment  explains  what  Tully  meant  by  men's  being  drawn  by 
the  mysteries  from  an  irrational  and  savage  life,  and  tamed,  as  it  were, 
and  broken  to  humanity.  It  was,  we  see,  by  the  information  given  them, 
concerning  the  origin  of  society,  and  the  inventors  of  the  arts  of  life, 
and  the  rewards  they  received  from  grateful  posterity,  for  making  them- 
selves benefactors  to  mankind. 

The  reasons  which  induce  me  to  think  this  fragment  the  very  his- 
tory narrated  to  the  Epoptai,  in  the  celebration  of  the  greater  mysteries, 
are  these: 

First,  it  bears  an  exact  conformity  with  w^hat  the  ancients  tell  us 
that  history  contained  in  general,  namely,  an  instruction  that  all  the 
national  gods,  as  well  those  majorum,  such  as  Hypsistus,  Ouranos,  and 
Cronos,  as  those  minorum  gentium,  were  only  dead  men  deified : 
together  with  a  recommendation  of  the  advantages  of  civil  life  above  the 
state  of  nature,  and  an  excitement  to  the  most  considerable  of  the  initia- 
ted (the  summatibus  viris,  as  Macrobius  calls  them)  to  procure  it. 
And  these  tvvo  ends  are  served  together,  in  the  history  of  the  rise  and 
progress  of  idolatry  as  delivered  in  this  fragment. 

Again,  in  order  to  recommend  civil  life,  and  to  excite  men  to  pro- 
mote its  advantages,  a  lively  picture  is  given  of  his  miserable  condition, 
and  how  obnoxious  he  was,  in  that  state,  to  the  rage  of  all  the  elements, 
and  how  imperfectly,  while  he  continued  in  it,  he  could,  with  all  his 
industry,  fence  against  them  by  food  of  acorns,  by  cottages  of  reeds,  and 
by  coats  of  skins :  a  matter  the  mysteries  thought  so  necessary  to  be 
impressed,  that  we  find,  by  Diodorus  Siculus,  there  was  a  scenical 


THE    ANCIENT    MYSTERIES.  121 

representatfion  of  this  state  exhibited  in  their  shows.*  And  what 
stronger  excitement  had  heroic  minds,  than  to  be  taught,  as  they  are  in 
this  fragment,  that  public  benefits  to  their  fellow  creatures  were 
reward  with  immortality. 

My  second  reason  for  supposing  it  to  be  that  very  history,  is  our 
being  told,  that  Sanchoniatho  transcribed  the  account  from  secret  records, 
kept  in  the  penetralia  of  the  temples,  and  written  in  a  sacred  sacerdotal 
character,  called  the  Ammonean,  from  the  place  where  they  were 
first  deposited ;  which,  as  Marsham  reasonably  supposes,  was  Ammon- 
no,  or  Thebes,  in  Egypt :  a  kind  of  writing  employed,  (as  we  have  shown 
elsewhere)  by  the  hierophants  of  the  mysteries. 

But,  lastly,  we  are  told,  that  when  this  genealogical  history  came 
into  the  hands  of  a  certain  son  of  Thabion,  the  first  hierophant  on  record 
amongst  the  Phenicans,  he,  after  having  corrupted  it  with  allegories, 
and  intermixed  physical  and  cosmical  affections  with  historical,  that  is, 
made  the  one  significative  of  the  other,  delivered  it  to  the  prophets  of  the 
orgies,  and  the  hierophants  of  the  mysteries;  who  left  it  to  their  succes' 
sors.  So  that  now  we  have  an  express  testimony  for  the  fact  here 
advanced,  that  this  was  the  very  history  read  to  the  Epoptai  in  the 
celebration  of  the  greater  mysteries. 

But  one  thing  is  too  remarkable  to  pass  by  unobserved  :  and  that  is, 
Sanchoniatho' s  account  of  the  corruption  of  this  history  with  allegories 
and  physical  affections,  by  one  of  his  own  countrymen ;  and  of  its 
delivery,  in  that  state,  to  the  Egyptians,  for  Isiris  is  the  same  as  Osiris, 
who  corrupted  it  still  more.  That  the  pagan  mythology  was,  indeed, 
thus  corrupted,  I  have  shown  at  large,  in  several  parts  of  this  work: 
but  I  believe,  not  so  early  as  is  here  pretended:  which  makes  me  sus- 
pect that  Sanchoniatho  lived  in  a  later  age  than  his  interpreter,  Philo, 
assigns  to  him.  And  what  confirms  me  in  this  suspicion,  is  that  mark 
of  national  vanity  and  partiality,  common  to  after-times,  in  making  the 
mysteries  of  his  own  country  original,  and  conveyed  from  Phenicia  to 
Egypt.  Whereas  it  is  very  certain,  they  came  first  from  Egypt.  Biit 
of  this,  elsewhere.  However,  let  the  reader  take  notice,  that  the 
question  concerning  the  antiquity  of  Sanchoniatho  does  not  at  all  affect 
our  inference  concerning  the  nature  and  use  of  this  history. 

*  We  here  see  the  origin  of  the  forlorn  condition  in  which  the  candidate  for  masonic 
honors i3  placed,  when  prepared  for  initiation;  who,  " neither  naked,  nor  clothed,  bare- 
foot, nor  shod ;  deprived  of  all  metals ;  hoodwinked,  with  a  cable- tow  about  his  neck,  is 
led  to  the  door  of  the  lodge,  in  a  halting-  moving  posture." 

His  being  hoodwinked  is  emblematical  of  the  uninformed  state  of  those  not  initiated 
into  the  mysteries ;  and  the  rope  about  his  neck  is  in  token  of  his  submission  to  the 
divine  will,  as  will  hereafter  be  shown  from  the  customs  of  the  Druids.— Edit. 

16 


1122  A    DISSERTATION    ON 

A  criticism  of  that  very  knowing  and  sagacious  writer,  father  Simon 
of  the  Oratorj^  will  show  the  reader  how  groundless  the  suspicions  of 
learned  men  are  concerning  the  genuineness  of  this  fragment.  Father 
Simon  imagines  that  Porphyry  forged  the  history  of  Sanchoniatho, 
under  the  name  of  a  translation  by,  Philo  Byblius ;  and-  conjectures,  his 
purpose  in  so  doing  was  to  support  paganism;  by  taking  from  it,  its 
mythology  and  allegories,  which  the  Christian  writers  perpetually  objec- 
ted to  it.  "  He  would  make  it  appear,  to  answer  the  objections  that 
were  made  on  all  sides  upon  this,  that  their  theology  was  a  pure 
mythology — they  go  back  to  the  times  which  had  preceded  the  allegories 
and  the  fictions  of  the  sacrificers."  (Bib.  Crit.  v.  i.  p.  140.)  But  this 
learned  man  totally  mistakes  the  case.  The  Christians  objected  to  vul- 
gar^ paganism,  that  the  stories  told  of  their  gods,  were  immoral.  To 
this  their  priests  and  philosophers  replied,  that  these  stories  were  only 
mythological  allegories,  which  veiled  all  the  great  truths  of  theology, 
fthics,  and  physics.  The  christians  said,  this  could  not  be ;  for  that 
the  stories  of  the  gods  had  a  substantial  foundation  in  fact,  these  gods 
being  only  dead  men  deified,  who  in  life,  had  like  passions  ai^d  infirmi- 
ties wdth  others.  For  the  truth  of  which  they  appealed  to  such  writers 
as  Sanchoniatho,  who  had  given  the  history  both  of  their  mortal  and 
immortal  stations  and  conditions.  How  then  could  so  acute  an  adversary 
as  Porphyry,  deeply  engaged  in  this  controversy,  so  far  mistake  the 
state  of  the  question,  and  grounds  of  his  defence,  as  to  forge  a  book  in 
support  of  his  cause,  which  totally  overthrew  it  ? 


The  Rev.  James  Anderson,  D.  D.  published,  in  1723,  the  first  book 
on  masonry  with  the  sanction  of  the  grand  lodge  of  England.  The 
commencement  of  his  work  bears  a  strong  resemblance  to  the  foregoing 
fragment.  Instead,  howeixr,  of  permitting  the  first  inhabitants  of  the 
world  to  gain  knowledge  gradually  by  the  aid  of  experience,  he  makes 
them  finished  artizans  from  the  beginning.  This  was  necessary  for  his 
purpose,  which  was  to  show  the  original  establishment  of  the  freemason 
society.  As  his  account  throws  much  light  upon  the  early  history  of 
man,  and  the  amasing  progress  of  the  arts  and  sciences  in  the  first  stages 
of  human  existence,  and  is,  moreover,  greatly  relied  upon  by  masons 
I  will  here  give  a  short  abstract  of  it. 

"  The  Almighty  Architect,"  says  the  Dr.  "having  created  all  things 
according  to  geometry,  last  of  all  formed  Adam,  and  engraved,  on  his 
heart  the  same  noble  science ;  which  Adam  soon  discovered  by  survey- 


THE    ANCIENT    MYSTERIES.  123 

i7ig  his  earthly  paradise,  and  fabricating  an  arbor  as  a  convenient  sheher 
from  heat,  etc.  When  expelled  from  his  lovely  arbor,  he  resided  in  the 
most  convenient  abodes  of  the  land  of  Eden,  where  he  could  be  best 
secured  from  cold,  heat,  winds,  rains,  tempests,  and  wild  beasts,  till  his 
sons  grew  up  io  form  a  lodge  ;  whom  he  taught  geometry  and  the  great 
use  of  it  in  architecture ;  without  which  the  children  of  men  must  have 
lived  like  brutes,  in  woods,  dens,  caves,  etc. ;  or  at  best  in  poor  huts  of 
mud,  or  arbors  made  of  branches  of  trees,  etc.  *  *  *  Tubal  Kain 
wrought  in  metals,  Jubal  elevated  music,  and  Jabal  extended  his 
tents. 

Adam  was  succeeded  in  the  grand  direction  of  the  craft  by  Seth 
Enock,  Kainan,  Mahalaleel,  and  Tared,  whose  son  Enoch  was  expert 
and  bright,  both  in  the  science  and  in  the  art,  and  being  a  prophet, 
he  foretold  the  destruction  of  the  earth  for  sin,  first  by  water,  and 
afterwards  by  fire.  Therefore  Enoch  erected  two  large  pillars,  the  one 
of  stone  and  the  other  of  brick,  whereon  he  engraced  the  abridgment 
of  the  arts  and  sciences,  principally  geometry  and  masonry. 

At  last,  when  the  world's  destruction  drew  nigh,  God  commanded 
Noah  to  build  the  great  ark  or  floating  castle,  and  his  three  sons  assisted, 
like  a  deputy  and  two  wardens.  That  edifice,  though  of  wood  only, 
w^as  fabricated  by  geometry  as  nicely  as  any  stone-building,  like  true 
ship-building  at  this  day,  a  curious  and  large  piece  of  architecture,  and 
finished  when  Noah  entered  into  his  six  hundredth  year.  Aboard  which 
he  and  his  three  sons  and  their  four  wives  passed,  and  having  received 
the  cargo  of  animals  by  God's  direction,  they  were  saved  in  the  ark, 
while  the  rest  perished  in  the  flood  for  their  immorality  and  unbelief 
And  so  from  these  masons,  or  four  grand  officers,  the  whole  present  race 
of  mankind  are  descended. 

After  the  fiood,-Noah  and  his  three  sons,  having  preserved  the  know- 
ledge of  the  arts  and  sciences,  communicated  it  to  their  growing  off- 
spring. And  it  came  to  pass,  as  they  journeyed  from  the  East  towards 
the  West,  they  found  a  plain  in  the  land  of  Shinar,  and  dwelt  there 
together,  as  Noachidce,  or  sons  of  Noah,  which  Vs-as  the  first  name  of 
masons,  according  to  some  old  traditions.  When  Peleg  was  born  there 
to  Heber,  after  the  flood  one  hundred  and  one  years,  father  Noah  par- 
titioned the  earth,  ordering  them  to  disperse  and  take  possession ;  but 
from  a  fear  of  the  consequences  of  separation,  they  resolved  to  keep 
together. 

Nimrod,  the  son  of  Cush,  the  eldest  son  of  Ham,  was  at  the  head  of 
those  that  would  not  disperse  ;  or  if  they  must  seperate,  they  resolved  to 


124  A    DISSERTATION    OX 

transmit  their  memorial  illustrious  to  all  future  ages ;  and  so  employed 
themselves  under  grand  master  Nimrod,*  in  the  large  and  fertile  vale  of 
Shinar  along  the  banks  of  the  Tygris,  in  building  a  stately  tower  and 
city,  the  largest  work  that  ever  (he  world  saw,  and  soon  filled  the  vale 
with  splendid  edifices.  But  they  over  hnilt  it,  and  knew  not  when  to  desist 
till  their  vanity  provoked  their  Maker  to  confound  their  grand  design,  by 
confounding  their  speech.    Hence  the  city  w^as  called  Babel,  confusion. 

Thus  they  were  forced  to  disperse,  about  fifty-three  years  after  they 
began  to  build,  or  after  the  flood  one  hundred  and  fifty-four  years,  when 
the  general  migration  from  Shinar  commenced.  They  went  off  at 
various  times,  and  travelled  North,  South,  East,  and  West,  with  their 
mighty  skill,  and  found  the  good  use  of  it  in  settling  their  colonies. 

But  Nimrod  went  forth  no  farther  than  into  the  land  of  Assyria,  and 
founded  the  first  great  empire  at  his  capital  Nineveh,  where  he  long 
reigned.  Under  him  flourished  many  learned  mathematicians,  whose  suc- 
cessors were  long  afterwards  called  Chaldees  and  Magians :  and  though 
many  of  them  turned  image-worshippers,  yet  even  that  idolatry  occa- 
sioned an  improvement  in  the  arts  of  designing :  for  Ninus,  king  of 
Nineveh  or  Assyria  ordered  his  best  artists  to  frame  the  statue  of  Baa]» 
that  was  worshipped  in  a  gorgeous  temple. 

This  history  of  Dr.  Anderson  is  the  only  authority  that  masonry  can 
produce  to  substantiate  the  extraordinary  antiquity  which  it  claims. 
The  specimen  I  have  given  of  it,  is  sufficient  for  the  reader  to  form  an 
opinion  of  its  authenticity,  as  well  as  its  resemblance  to  the  fragment  of 
Sanchoniatho.  Nimrod,  Be],  Baal,  and  Belus  are  supposed  by  mytho- 
logists  to  be  the  same  person.      We  will  turn  to  Warburton. 


We  now  come  to  the  hymn  celebrating  the  unity  of  the  godhead, 
which  was  sung  in  the  Eleusian  mysteries  by  the  hierophant,  habited 
like  the  Creator.^  And  this  I  take  to  be  the  little  orphic  poem  quoted 
by  Clemens  Alexandrinus  and  Eusebius;  which  begins  thus  ;  "  I  will 
declare  a  secret  to  the  Initiated  ;  but  let  the  doors  be  shut  against  the 
profane.  But  thou,  O  Musaeus,  the  offspring  of  bright  Selene,  attend 
carefully  to  my  song  ;  for  I  shall  deliver  the  truth  without  disguise. 
Suffer  not,  therefore,  thy  former  prejudices  to  debar  the  of  that  happy 

♦Nimrod  signifies  rebel,  the  name  that  the  Israelites  gave  him  ;  but  his  friends  called 
.  him  Belue,  lord. 

t  A  Passage  in  Porphyry  shows  what  kind  of  personage  the  creator  was  represented 
by  ;  and  that  it  was,  like  all  the  rest,  of  Egyptian  original  ;  and  introduced  into  these 
p«cret  mysteries,  for  the  reason  above  explained. 


THE    ANCIENT    MYSTERIES.  125 

life,  which  the  knowledge  of  these  sublime  truths  will  procure  unto 
thee ;  but  carefully  contemplate  this  divine  oracle,  and  preserve  it  in 
purity  of  mind  and  heart.  Go  on,  in  the  right  way,  and  see  the  sole 
governor  of  the  world  ;*  he  is  one,  and  of  himself  alone  ;  and  to 
that  one  all  things  owe  their  being.  He  pperates  through  all,  was 
never  seen  by  mortal  eyes,  but  does  himself  see  every  one." 

The  reasons  which  support  my  conjecture  are  these  :  1.  We  learn 
from  the  scholiast  on  Aristophanes  and  others,  that  hymns  were  sung 
in  the  mysteries,  2.  Orpheus,  as  we  have  said,  first  brought  the  mys- 
teries from  Egypt  into  Thrace,  and  even  religion  itself;  hence  it  was 
called  Thresceia,  as  being  supposed  the  invention  of  the  Thracian. 
3.  The  verses,  which  go  under  the  name  of  Orpheus,  are,  at  least, 
more  ancient  than  Plato  and  Herodotus  ;  though  since  interpolated. 
It  was  the  common  opinion,  that  they  were  genuine;  and  those  who 
doubted  of  that,  yet  gave  them  to  the  earliest  Pythagoreans.  (Laertius 
in  Vita  Pythag.  and  Suidas.)  4.  The  subject  of  them  are  the  mys- 
teries, under  the  several  titles  of  Thronismoi  meirooi,  teletai,  ieros, 
logos,  and  lis  ado  Katahasis.  5.  Pausanias  tells  us,  that  Orpheus's 
hymns  were  sung  in  the  rites  of  Ceres,  in  preference  to  Homer's, 
though  more  elegant,  for  the  reasons  given  above.  6.  This  hymn  is 
addressed  to  Mussgus,  his  disciple,  who  was  said,  though  falsely,  to 
institute  the  mysteries  at  Athens,  as  his  master  had  done  in  Thrace ; 
and  begins  with  the  formula  used  by  the  mystagogue  on  that  occasion 
warning  the  profane  to  keep  at  distance  ;  and  in  the  fourth  line  men- 
tions that  new  life  or  regeneration,  to  which  the  initiated  were  taught 
to  aspire.  7.  No  other  original,  than  the  singing  the  hymns  of 
Orpheus  in  the  Eleusinian  mysteries,  can  be  well  imagined  of  that 
popular  opinion,  mentioned  by  Theodoret,  that  Orpheus  instituted  those 
mysteries,  when  the  Athenians  had  such  certain  records  of  another 
founder.  8.  We  are  told  that  one  article  of  the  Athenians'  charge 
against  Diagoras  for  revealing  the  mysteries,  was  his  making  the  Orphic 
speech,  or  hymn,  the  subject  of  his  common  conversation.  9.  But 
lastly,  the  account,  which  Clemens  gives  of  this  hymn,  seems  to  put 
the  matter  out  of  question  :  his  words  are  these  :  •*  But  the  Thracian 
mystagogue,  who  was  at  the  same  time  a  poet,  Orpheus,  the  son  of 
Oeager,  after  he  had  opened  the  mysteries,  and  sung  the  whole  theol- 
ogy of  idols,  recants  all  he  had  said,  and  introduceth  truth.  The 
sacreds  then  truly  begin,  though  late,  and  thus   he  enters  upon  the 

♦  That  is,  his  representative  ;  but  how  he  could  be  habited  like  the  Creator,  who  waa 
never  seen  by  mortal  eyea^  it  is  difficult  to  imagine* — Edit. 


126  A    DISSERTATldN    ON 

matter."  To  understand  the  force  of  this  passage,  we  are  to  know  ; 
that  the  mystas^ogue  explained  the  representations  in  the  mysteries,' 
where,  as  we  learn  from  Apuleius,  the  supernal  and  infernal  gods  pas- 
sed in  review.  To  each  of  these  they  sung  a  hymn  ;  which  Clemens 
calls  the  theology  of  images,  or  idols.  These  are  yet  to  be  seen 
amongst  the  works  ascribed  to  Orpheus.  When  all  this  was  over, 
then  came  die  Aporreta,  delivered  in  the  hymn  in  question.  And, 
after  that,  the  assembly  was  dismissed,  with  these  two  barbarous  words, 
kogx  omphax,  which  shows  the  mysteries  not  to  have  been  originally 
Greek,  The  learned  Mr.  Le  Clerc  well  observes,  that  this  seems  to 
be  only  an  ill  pronunciation  of  kots  and  omphets  which,  he  tells  us, 
signify  in  the  Phenician  tongue,  watch  and  abstain  from  evil* 

Thus  the  reader  sees  the  end  and  use  both  of  the  greater  and  less 
mysteries  ;  and  that,  as  well  in  what  they  hid  as  what  they  divulg- 
ed, all  aimed  at  the  benefit  of  the  state.  To  this  end,  they  were  to 
draw  in  as  many  as  they  could  to  their  general  participation  ;  which 
they  did  by  spreading  abroad  the  doctrine  of  a  providence,  and  a  future 
state  ;  and  how  much  happier  the  initiated  would  be,  and  what  supe- 
rior felicities  they  were  entitled  to  in  another  life.  It  was  on  this 
account  that  antiquity  is  so  full  and  express  in  this  part.  But  then, 
they  were  to  make  those  they  had  got  in  as  virtuous  as  they  could  ; 
which  they  provided  for,  by  discovering,  to  such  as  were  capable  of 
the  secret,  the  whole  delusion  of  polytheism.  Now  this  being  sup- 
posed the  shaking  foundations,  was  to  be  done  with  all  possible  cir- 
cumspection, and  under  the^  most  tremendous  seal  of  secrecy.  (See 
cap.  XX.  of  Meursius'  Eleusinia.)  For  they  taught,  the  gods  them- 
selves punished  the  revealers  of  the  secret ;  and  not  tbem  only,  but 
the  hearers  of  it  too.  (Apul.  Met.  lib.  xi.)  Nor  did  they  altogether 
trust  to  that  neither  ;  for  more  efTectually  to  curb  an  ungovernable 
curiosity,  the  state  decreed  capital  punishments  against  the  betrayers  of 
the  mysteries,  and  inflicted  them  with  merciless  severity.  (Si  quis 
arcanaB  mysteria  Cereris  sacra  vulgasset,  lege  morti  addicebatur.) 

The  case  of  Diagoras,  the  Melian,  is  too  remarkable  to  be  omited 
This  man  had  revealed  the  Orphic  and  Elusinian  mysteries  ;  and  so 
passed  with  the  people  for  an  atheist ;  which  at  once  confirms  what 
hath  been  said  of  the  object  of  the  secret  doctrines,  and  of  the  mischief 
that  would  attend  an  indiscreet  communication  of  them.     He  likewise, 


*  In  closing  a  royal  arch  chapter,  the  high  priest  savs,  "  may  we  invariably  practice 
all  those  duties  out  of  the  chapter,  which  are  inculcated  in  it.  Responce  ;  so  mote  it  be^ 
Amen."    (Bernard.)— Edit. 


THE    ANCIENT    MYSTERIES.  127 

dissuaded  his  friends  from  being  initiated  into  these  rites  ;  the  conse* 
quence  of  which  was,  that  the  city  of  Athens  proscribed  him,  and  set 
a  price  upon  his  head.  While  Socrates,  who  preached  up  the  latter 
part  of  this  doctrine  (and  was  likewise  a  reputed  atheist,)  and  Epicu- 
rus, who  taught  the  former  (and  was  a  real  one)  were  suffered,  because 
they  delivered  their  opinions  only  as  points  of  philosophic  specula- 
tion, amongst  their  followers,  to  live  a  long  time  unmolested.  And 
this,  perhaps,  was  the  reason  why  Socrates  declined  being  initiated.* 
Which,  as  it  appeared  a  singular  affectation,  exposed  him  to'much 
censure.  But  it  was  foreborn  with  his  usual  prudence.  He  remem- 
bered, that  Eschylus,  on  a  mere  imagination  of  his  having  given  a 
hint  in  his  scenes  of  something  in  the  mysteries,  had  like  to  have  been 
torn  in  pieces  on  the  stage  by  the  people  ;  and  only  escaped  by  an 
appeal  to  the  areopagus  ;  which  venerable  court  acquited  him  of  that 
dangerous  imputation,  on  his  proving  that  he  had  never  been  initiated. 
The  famous  Euhemerus,  who  assumed  the  same  office  of  hicrophant 
to  the  people  at  large,  with  more  boldness  than  Socrates,  and  more 
temperance  than  Epicurus,  employed  another  expedient  to  scr«en  him- 
self from  the  laws,  though  he  fell,  and  perhaps  deservedly,  under  the 
same  imputation  of  atheism.  He  gave  a  fabulous  relation  of  a  voy- 
age to  the  imaginary  island  of  Panchsea,  a  kind  of  ancient  Utopia  ; 
where,  in  a  temple  of  Jupiter,  he  found  a  genealogical  record,  which 
discovered  to  him  the  births  and  deaths  of  the  greater  gods  ;  and,  in 
short,  every  thing  that  the  hierophant  revealed  to  the  initated  on  this 
subject.  Thus  he  too  avoided  the  suspicion  of  a  betrayer  of  the  mys- 
teries. 

This,  therefore,  is  the  reason  why  so  little  is  to  be  met  with  concern- 
ing the  Aporreta.  Varro  and  Cicero,  the  two  most  inquisitive  persons 
in  antiquity,  affording  but  a  glimmering  light.  The  first  giving  us  a 
short  account  of  the  cause  only  of  the  secret,  without  mentioning  the 
doctrine  ;  and  the  other,  a  hint  of  the  doctrine,  without  mentioning 
the  cause. 

But  now  a  remarkable  exception  to  all  we  have  been  saying  con* 
cerning  the  secrecy  of  the  mysteries,  obtrudes  itself  upon  us,  in  the 
case  of  the  Creatans  ;  who,  as  Diodorus  Siculus  assures  us,  celebrated 

*  "  Some  enlightened  persons  did  not  believe  that  to  be  virtuous  there  was  any 
necessity  for  such  an  association.  Diogenes  was  once  advised  to  contract  this  sacred 
engagement ;  but  he  answered  ;  "  Patascion,  the  notorious  robber,  obtained  initiation  ; 
Epaminondas  and  Agesilaus  never  soHcited  it ;  is  it  possible  I  should  believe  that  the 
former  will  enjoy  thebhss  of  the  Elysian  fields,  while  the  latter  shall  be  dragged  through 
the  mire  qf  the  infernal  shades."    (Travels  of  Anachar.)— -Edit. 


128  A    DISSERTATION   ON 

their  mysteries  openly,  and  taught  their  aporreta  without  reserve. 
His  words  are  these  :  "  At  Cnossus  in  Crete,  it  was  provided  for,  by  an 
ancient  law,  that  these  mysteries  should  be  shown  openly  to  all  ;  and 
that  those  things,  which  in  other  places  were  delivered  in  secret,  should 
be  hid  from  none  who  were  desirous  of  knowing  them."  But,  as  con- 
trary as  this  seems  to  the  principles  delivered  above,  it  will  be  found, 
on  attentive  reflection,  altogether  to  confirm  them.  We  have  shown, 
that  the  great  secret  was  the  detection  of  polytheism  ;  which  was  done 
by  teaching  the  original  of  the  gods  ;  their  birth  from  mortals  ;  and 
their  advancement  to  divine  honor,  for  benefits  done  to  their  country,  or 
mankind.  But  it  is  to  be  observed,  that  the  Cretans  proclaimed  this  to 
all  the  world,  by  showing,  and  boasting  of  the  tomb  of  Jupiter  himself, 
the  Father  of  gods  and  men.  How  then  could  they  tell  that  as  a 
secret  in  their  mysteries,  which  they  told  to  every  one  out  of  them  % 
Nor  is  it  less  remarkable  that  the  Cretans  themselves,  as  Diodorus,  in 
the  same  place,  tells  us,  gave  this  very  circumstance  of  their  celebra- 
ting the  mysteries  openly  as  a  proof  of  their  being  the  first  who  had 
consecrated  dead  mortals.  "  These  are  the  old  stories  which  the  Cre- 
tans tell  of  their  gods,  who,  they  pretend  to  say,  were  born  amongst 
them.  ~  And  they  urge  this  as  an  invincible  reason  to  prove  that  the 
adoration,  the  worship,  and  the  mysteries  of  these  gods  were  first  derived 
from  Crete  to  the  rest  of  the  world,  for,  whereas,  amongst  the  Athen- 
ians, those  most  illustrious  mysteries  of  all,  called  the  Eleusinian,  those 
of  Samothrace,  and  those  of  the  Ciconians  in  Thrace,  of  Orpheus's 
institution,  are  all  celebrated  in  secret ;  yet  in  Crete" — and''  so  on  as 
above.  For  it  seems  the  Cretans  were  proud  of  their  invention  ;  and 
used  this  method  to  proclaim  and  perpetuate  the  notice  of  it.  So  when 
Pythagoras,  as  Porphyry  informs  us,  had  been  initiated  into  the  Cre- 
tian  mysteries,  and  had  continued  in  the  Idean  cave  three  times  nine 
days,  he  wrote  this  epigram  on  the  tomb  of  Jupiter,  Zan,  whom 
men  call  Jupiter,  lies  here  deceased. 

It  was  this  which  so  much  exasperated  the  other  Grecians  against 
them ;  and  gave  birth  to  the  common  proverb  of  Kretes  aei  pseystai, 
the  Cretans  are  eternal  liars.  For  nothing  could  more  affront  these 
superstitious  idolaters  than  asserting  the  fact,  or  more  displease  the 
politic  protectors  of  the  mysteries  than  the  divulging  it. 

The  mysteries  then  being  of  so  great  service  to  the  state,  we  shall 
not  be  surprised  to  hear  the  wisest  of  the  ancients  speaking  highly 
in  their  commendation  ;  and  their  best  lawgivers,  and  reformers,  pro- 
viding carefully  for  their  support.     "  Ceres  (says  Isocrates)  hath  made 


THE    ANCIENT    MYSTERIES.  t^ 

the  Athenians  two  presents  of  the  greatest  consequence  ;  corn,  which 
brought  us  out  of  a  state  of  brutality ;  and  the  mysteries,  which  teach 
the  initiated  to  entertain  the  most  agreeable  expectations  toucliing  death 
and  eternity."  And  Plato  introduceth  Socrates  speaking  after  this  manner: 
•'  In  my  opinion,  those  who  established  the  mysteries,  w^hoever  they 
Were,  were  well  skilled  in  human  nature.  For  in  these  rites  it  was 
of  old  signified  to  the  aspirant,  that  those  who  died  without  being  ini- 
tiated, stuck  fast  in  mire  and  filth ;  but  that  he  who  was  purified  and  ini- 
tiated at  his  death  should  have  his  habitation  "  with  the  Grods."  And 
Tully  thought  them  of  such  use  to  society,  for  preserving  and  propaga- 
ting the  doctrine  6{  a  future  state  of  rewards  and  punishments,  that  iri" 
the  law  where  he  forbids  nocturnal  sacrifices  offered  by  women,  he 
makes  an  express  exception  for  the  Mysteries  of  Ceres,  as  wellasfof 
the  sacrifices  to  the  good  goddess. 

Aristides  said,  the  welfare  of  Greece  was  secured  by  the  Eleusinian 
mysteries  alone  !  Indeed  the  Greeks  seemed  to  place  their  chief  hap- 
piness in  them  ;  so  Euripides  makes  Hercules  say,  "  I  was  blest,  when 
I  got  a  sight  of  the  mysteries  ; "  and  it  was  a  proverbial  speech,  when 
anyone  thought  himself  in  the  highest  degree  happy,  to  say,  I  seem  as 
if  I  had  been  initiated  in  the  higher  mysteries. 

But  now,  such  is  the  fate  of  human  things,  these  mysteries,  r^hefei- 
ble  as  they  were,  in  their  first  institution,  did,  it  must  be  Owned,  in 
course  of  time,  degenerate  ;  and  those  very  provisions  made  by  the 
Sfate,  to  enable  the  mysteries  to  obtain  the  end  of  their  establishment, 
became  the  very  means  of  defeating  it.  For  we  can  assign  no  surer 
cause  of  the  horrid  abuses  and  corruptions  of  the  mysteries  (besides 
time,  which  naturally  and  fatally  depraves  and  vitiates  all  things)  than 
the  season  in  which  they  were  represented  ;  and  the  profound  silence 
in  which  they  were  butied.  For  night  gave  opportunity  to  wicked 
men  to  attempt  evil  actions  ;  and  secrecy,  encouragement  to  repeat 
them  ;  and  the  inviolable  nature  of  that  secrecy,  which  encouraged 
abuses,  kept  them  from  the  magistrate's  knowledge  so  long  till  it 
was  too  late  to  reform  them.  In  a  word,  we  must  own,  that  these 
mysteries,  so  powerful  in  their  first  institution  for  the  promotion  of  vir- 
tue and  knowledge,  became,  in  time,  horribly  subservient  to  the  grati- 
fication of  lust  and  revenge.  (Wisdom  of  Sol.  xiv.  23.  24.)  Nor 
will  this  appear  at  all  strange  after  what  hath  been  said  above.  A  like 
corruption,  from  (he  same  cause,  crept  even  into  the  church,  during  the 
purest  ages  of  it.  The  primitive  Christians,  in  imitation,  perhaps,  of 
these  pagan' rites,  or  from  the  sam^  kind  of  spirit,  had  a  custom  of  celd-' 

.     17 


f30  A    DISSERTATION    Cm 

brating  vigils  in  the  night;  which,  at  first,  were  performed  with  at 
becoming  sanctity  ;  but,  in  a  little  time,  they  were  so  overrun  with- 
abuses,  that  it  w^as  necessary  to  abolish  them. 

And  the  same  remedy,  Cicero,  tells  us,  Diagondas  the  Theban  was 
forced  to  apply  to  the  disorders  of  the  mysteries. 

However,  this  was  not  the  only,  though  the  most  powerful  cause  of 
the  depravation  of  the  mysteries.  Another  doubtless  was  their  being 
sometimes  under  the  patronage  of  those  deities,  who  were  supposed  to 
inspire  and  preside  over  sensual  passions,  such  as  Bacchus,  Venus,  and 
Cupid  ;  for  these  had  all  their  mysteries  ;  and  where  was  the  wonder,, 
if  the  initiated  should  be  sometimes  inclined  to  give  a  loose  to  vices,  in 
which  the  patron  god  was  supposed  to  delight  ?  And  in  this  case,  the 
hidden  doctrine  came  too  late  to  put  a  stop  to  the  disorder.  However, 
it  is  remarkable,  and  confirms  what  hath  been  said  concerning  the  origin 
of  the  Mysteries,  and  of  their  being  invented  to  perpetuate  the  doctrine 
of  a  future  state,  that  the  doctrine  continued  to  be  taught  even  in  the 
most  debauched  celebrations  of  the  Mysteries  of  Cupid  and  Bacchus. 
Nay,  even  that  very  flagitious  part  of  the  mysterious  rites  when  at 
worst,  the  carrying  the  kteis  and  pkallos,  in  procession,  was  introduced 
Bat  under  pretence  of  their  being  emblems  of  the  mystical  regeneration 
and  new  life^  into  which  the  initiated  had  engaged  themselves  to  enter. 

The  last  cause  to  which  one  may  ascribe  their  corruption,  was 
the  Hierophant's  withdrawing  the  mysteries  from  the  care  and  inspec- 
tion of  the  civil  Magistrate  ;  whose  original  institution  they  were. 
But  in  aflertimes  it  would  happen,  that  a  little  priest,  who  had  borne 
an  inferior  share  in  these  rites,  w-ould  leave  his  society  and  country, 
and  set  up  for  himself ;  and  in  a  clandestine  manner,  without  the  allow- 
ance or  knowledge  of  the  magistrate,  institute  and  celebrate  the  myste- 
ries in  private  conventicles.  From  rites  so  managed,  it  is  easy  to 
believe;  many  enormities  w^ould  arise.  This  was  the  original  of  those 
horrid  impieties  commited  in  the  mysteries  of  Bacchus  at  Rome  ;  of 
which  the  historian  Livy  has  given  so  circumstantial  an  account ;  for 
in  the  beginning  of  his  story,  he  tells  us,  the  mischief  was  occasioned 
by  one  of  these  prifst's  bringing  the  mysteries  into  Etruria,  on  his  own 
head,  uncommissioned  by  his  superiors  in  Greece,  from  whom  he  learnt 
them ;  and  unauthorized  by  the  State,  into  Avhich  he  had  introduced 
them.  The  words  of  Livy  show  that  the  mysteries  were,  in  their  own 
nature,  a  very  different  affair ;  and  invented  for  the  improvement  of 
knowledge  and  virtue.  "  A  Greek  of  mean  extraction,  (says  he,)  a 
little  priest  and  soothsayer,  came  first  into  Etruria,  without  any  skill. 


THE    ANCIENT    MYSTERIES.  ISl 

GT  wisdom  in  mysterious  ritos,  many  sorts  of  which,  that  most  improved 
people  have  brought  in  amongst  us,  for  the  culture  and  perfection 
both  of  mind  and  body." 

What  Livy  means  by  the  culture  of  the  body,  will  be  seen  hereafter 
when  we  come  to  speak  of  the  probationary  and  toilsome  trials  under- 
gone by  those  aspirants  to  the  mysteries,  called  the  soldiers  of  Mithras. 

However,  it  is  very  true,  that  in  Greece  itself  the  Mysteries  became 
abominably  abused  ;  a  proof  of  which  we  have  even  in  the  coudaet  of 
their  comic  writers,  who  frequently  lay  the  scene  of  their  subject,  such 
as  the  rape  of  a  young  girl,  and  the  like,  at  the  celebration  of  a  religious 
mystery  ;  and  from  that  mystery  denominate  the  comedy.  And  in  the 
time  of  Cicero,  the  terms,  mysteries  and  abominations,  were  almost 
synonymous.  The  Academic  having  said  they  had  secrets  and  mys- 
teries, Lucullus  replies,  "  Quae  funt  tandem  ista  myteria  ?  aut  cur  cela- 
tis,  quasi  turj^e  aliquid,  vestram  sententiam  ?"  What,  after  all,  are 
these  mysteries  H  or  why  conceal  your  purpose  as  if  it  included  some- 
thing base.  However,  in  spite  of  all  occasions  and  opportunities, 
some  of  the  mysteries,  as  particularly  the  Eleusinian,  continued,  for 
many  ages,  pure  and  undefiled.  The  two  capital  corruptions  of  the 
mysteries  were  magic  and  impurities.  Yet,  so  late  as  the  age  of  Apol- 
lonius  Tyan,  the  Elusinian  kept  so  clear  of  the  first  imputation,  that 
ihe  hiejophant  refused  to  initiate  that  impostor  because  he  was  a  magi- 
cian. And,  indeed,  their  long-continued  immunity,  both  from  one  and 
the  other  corruption,  will  not  appear  extraordinary,  if  Ave  consider 
-that,  by  a  law  of  Solon,  the  Senate  was  always  to  meet  the  day  after 
the  celebration  of  these  mysteries,  to  see  that  nothing  had  been  done 
amiss  during  the  performance.  (Andoc.  Orat.)  So  that  these  were 
the  very  last  that  submitted  to  the  common  fate  of  all  human  institu- 
tions. 

And  here  the  fathers  will  hardly  escape  the  censure  of  those  wlio 
will  not  allow  high  provocation  to  be  an  excuse  for  an  unfair  represen- 
tation of  an  adversary.  They  will  hardly  escape  censure,  for  accus- 
toming themselves  to  speak  of  the  mysteries  as  gross  impieties  and 
immoralities,  in  their  very  original.*     Clemens  Alexandrinus,  in  a  heat 

*  What  hath  been  said  above,  shows  that  M.  Le  Clerc  ihath  gone  into  the  other 
extreme,  when  he  contends,  {Bibl.  Univ.  torn.  vi.  p.  73.)  that  the  mysteries  were  not 
corrupted  at  all.  I  can  conceive  no  reason  for  his  paradox,  but  as  it  favored  an  accusa- 
tion against  the  fathers,  who  have  much  insisted  onthe  corruption  of  them.— "The  fathers 
have  said  that  all  kinds  of  lewdness  were  committed  in  the  mysteries  ;  but  whatever 
they  may  say,  it  is  not  credible  that  all  Greece,  iiowever  corrupt  it  may  have  been,  has 
ever  consented  that  the  women  and  girls  should  prostitute  themselves  in  the  mysteries. 
But  some  Christian  authors  have  found  no  difficulty  in  saying  a  thousand  things  little 
conformable  to  truth,  to  defame  paganism;  as  though  there  were  none  but  pagan* 
against  whom  they  could  discharge  their  calumnies."— jBt6/.  Univ.  torn.  vi.  p.  120. 


13?  A    DISSERTATION    ON 

of  zeal,  breaks  out,  "  Let  him  be  accursed,  who  first  infected  the  world 
with  these  impostures,  whether  it  was  Dardanus  —  or — etc:  These 
I  make  no  scruple  to  call  wicked  authors  of  impious  fables  ;  the  fathers 
of  an  execrable  superstition,  who,  by  this  institution,  sowed  in  human 
life  the  seeds  of  vice  and  corruption."  But  the  wisest  and  best  of  the 
pagan  world  invariably  hold,  that  the  mysteries  were  instituted  pure ; 
and  proposed  the  noblest  end,  by  the  w^orthiest  means. 

The  truth  of  the  matter  was  this  :  the  fathers  bore  a  secret  grudge 
to  the  mysteries  for  their  injurious  treatment  of  Christianity  on  its  first 
appearance  in  the  world.  We  are  to  observe,  that  atheism,  by  which 
was  meant  a  contempt  of  the  gods,  w^as  reckoned,  in  the  mysteries, 
amongst  the  greatest  crimes.  So,  in  the  sixth  book  of  the  Eneid,  (of  which 
more  hereafter,)  the  hottest  seats  in  TartaTus  are  allotted  to  the  atheist, 
such  as  Salmoneus,  Tityus,  and  the  Titans,  etc.  Now  the  Christians, 
for  their  contempt  of  the  national  gods,  were,  on  their  first  appearance^ 
deemed  atheists  by  the  people ;  and  so  branded  by  the  mystagogue,  as 
we  find  in  Lucian,  and  exposed  amongst  the  rest  in  Tartarus,  in  their 
solemn  shows  and  representations.  This  may  be  gathered  from  a 
remarkable  passage  in  Origen,  where  Celsus  thus  addresses  his  adver- 
sary : 

*•  But  now,  as  you,  good  man,  believe  eternal  punishments,  even  so 
do  the  interpreters  of  these  holy  mysteries,  the  mystagogues  and  initia- 
tors :  you  threaten  others  with  them  ;  these,  on  the  contrary,  threaten 
youP 

This,  without  doubt,  was  what  sharpened  the  fathers  against  the 
mysteries ;  and  they  were  not  always  tender  in  loading  what  they  did 
not  approve.  But  here  comes  in  the  strange  part  of  the  story ;  that 
after  this,  they  should  so  studiously  and  formally  transfer  the  terms, 
phrases,  rites,  ceremonies  and  discipline  of  these  odious  mysteries  inio 
our  holy  religion ;  and,  thereby,  very  early  vitiate  and  deprave  what  a 
pagan  writer  (Marcellinus)  could  see,  and  acknowledge  to  be  absoluta 
and  simplex,  [perfect  and  pure]  as  it  came  out  of  the  hands  of  its  author. 
Sure  then  it  was  some  more  than  ordinary  veneration  the  people  had  for 
these  mysteries,  that  could  incline  the  fathers  of  the  church  to  so  fatal  a 
counsel :  however,  the  thing  is  notorious,  and  the  effects  have  been 
severely  felt. 

The  reader  will  not  be  displeased  to  find  here  an  exact  account  of 
.this  whole  matter,  extracted  from  a  very  curious  dissertation  of  a  great 
and  unexceptionable  writer.  Is.  Casaubon,  in  his  sixteenth  Exer.  on  the 
Annals  of  Baronius. — [Bishop  W.  has  given  the  remarks  of  Casaubou 
in  the  original  Latin,  of  which  the  following  is  a  translation :] 


THE    ANCIENT    MYSTERIES.  182 

*•  When  the  fathers  found  it  to  be  an  easier  way  of  bringing:  over 
niincls  corrupted  by  superstition  to  the  love  of  the  truth,  they  first  adopted 
many  terms  used  in  their  rites  ;  and  after  thus  treating  of  several  heads 
of  the  true  doctrines,  they  further  adopted  some  of  their  ceremonies  • 
that  they  might  seem  to  be  saying,  as  Paul  said  to  the  Gentiles, — 'Whom 
ye  ignorantly  worship  the  same  do  I  declare  unto  you!'  Thence  it 
came  that  the  fathers  called  the  sacraments  by  the  same  names  as  were 
used  to  describe  the  (pagan)  mysteries,  as  7nueseis,  telctas,  teleioseit 
epoptcias,  or  epopselas,  telcsteria,  and  sometimes,  but  more  rarely,  i 
orgies.  The  Eucharist  they  emphatically  denominated  the  mystery  of  \ 
mysteries;  and  also,  by  autonomy,  the  mystery,  or  in  the  plural,  the 
mysteries.  And  you  may  every  where  read  in  the  writings  of  the 
fathers,  when  treating  of  the  holy  communion,  the  words  phrieta  mys~ 
ieria,  or  aporrcton  mystcrion,  referring  to  those  that  were  to  be  divulged 
and  those  that  were  not.  So  the  Greek  verb  myesthal  in  the  ancient 
writing  is  often  employed  to  signify  .the  becoming  a  partaker  of  the 
Lord's  Supper ;  and  the  term  uj.yesin  for  the  act  itself,  and  mystes  for  the 
priest,  who  is  also  called  mystagogon,  and  hicrotelestes.  In  the  Greek 
liturgies  and  elsewhere  hieratelcte,  and  cryj)hia  haiepiphobos  telete  (the 
hidden  and  awful  mystery)  means  the  Eucharist. 

"  And  as  certain  degrees  were  used  in  the  pagan  rites,  so  in  like 
manner  Dionysius  divides  the  whole  tradition  of  the  sacraments  into 
three  acts,  distinguished  by  their  seasons  and  ceremonies.  The  first 
Avas  Catharsis,  the  purgation,  or  purification,  the  second  the  myestis  or 
initiation,  and  the  third,  teleosis  or  the  consummation,  which  they  also 
frequently  called  epopsian,  or  the  revered.  Tully  had  before  affirmed 
that  the  Atl;ienian  mysteries  brought  to  the  dying  better  hopes.  On 
their  part,  the  fathers  maintained,  that  the  mysteries  of  Christ  brought 
certain  salvation  and  eternal  life  to  those  who  worthily  partook  of  them; 
and  that  for  those  who  contemned  them  there  was  no  salvation  :  and 
they  did  not  scruple  to  say  that  the  end  and  ultimate  fruit  of  the  sacra- 
ments was  deification,  when  they  knew;  that  the  authors  of  those  vain 
superstitions  had  dared  to  promise  the  same  honor  to  their  initiates. 
And  therefore  you  may  read  in  the  fathers  that  the  end  of  the  holy 
mystagogies  was  deification  and  that  those  who  faithfully  received  them 
should  in  the  life  to  come  be  gods.  Athanasias  has  used  the  verb  theo- 
poiesthai  (to  deity)  in  the  same  sense,  and  subsequently  confirmed  it  by 
saying,  '  that  by  partaking  of  the  spirit  we  are  united  to  the  God-head.' 
Of  the  symbols  of  the  sacraments  by  which  those  ceremonies  are  cele- 
.brated,  it  is  not  here  the  place  to  treat :  but  that  which  is  called  a  symbol 


134  A    DISSERTATION    ON 

of  faith  is  various  in  its  kinds,  and  they  serve  as  tokens  or  tests  by  which 
the  faithful  may  recognize  each  other.  And  wo  show  that  the  same 
were  used  in  the  pagan  mysteries.  The  formula  pronounced  by  the 
deacons,  '  Depart  hence  all  ye  catachumens,  all  ye  possessed  and  unini- 
tiated,' corresponds  with  the  *  procul  esteprofani^  of  the  pagans.  Many 
rites  of  the  pagans  were  performed  in  the  night,  and  Guadentius  has 
the  expression  '  splendidissima  nox  vigiliarum,^  the  brightest  night  of 
the  vigils.  And  as  to  what  We  have  said  of  the  silence  observed  by  the 
pagans  in  their  secret  devotions,  the  ancient  Christians  so  far  approved^ 
that  they  exceeded  all  their  mysteries  in  that  observance.  And  as  Seneca 
has  observed,  the  most  holy  of  the  sacred  rites  were  only  known  to  the 
initiated ;  and  Jamblichus  on  the  philosophy  of  the  Pythagoreans  has 
distinguished  between  the  aporreta  which  could  not  be  carried  abroad, 
and  the  exphora,  which  might ;  so  the  ancient  Christians  distinguished 
their  whole  doctrines  into  those  which  might  be  divulged  to  all  (the 
exphora)  and  the  aporreta,  or  arcana,  which  were  not  rashly  to  be  dis- 
closed. Their  dogmas,  says  Basilius,  they  kept  secret,  their  preaching 
was  public.  And  Chrisostom,  treating  of  those  who  were  baptized  for 
the  dead,  says,  •  I  verily  desire  to  relate  the  matter  fully,  but  I  dare  not 
be  particular,  because  of  the  uninitiated.'  They  make  a  difficulty  for  us 
in  the  interpretation,  and  oblige  us  either  to  speak  without  precision,  or 
else  to  disclose  what  they  should  not  be  informed  of:  and  as  the  pagans 
used  the  terms  exorcheisthai  ta  mysteria,  touching  those  who  divulged 
the  mysteries,  so  Dionysius  says,  '  See  that  you  do  not  disclose,  nor 
slightly  reverence  the  mysteries,  and  every  where  in  Augustinus,  you 
will  read  of  the  sacrament  known  to  the  faithful.'  And  thus  (in  Johan- 
nem,  tract,  xvi)  •  all  the  catachumens  already  believe  in  Christ,  but 
Christ  does  not  trust  them :'  and  if  we  should  ask  one  of  them  whether 
he  eat  the  flesh  of  the  Son  of  man,  he  would  not  understand  what  we 
meant ;  and  again,  '  The  catachumens  are  ignorant  of  what  the  Cliris' 
tians  receive.'    Let  them  blush  that  they  are  ignorant" 

We  have  observed  abov<»,  that  the  fathers  gave  very  easy  credit  to 
what  was  reported  of  the  abominations  in  the  mysteries  ;  and  the  easier, 
perhaps,  on  account  of  the  secrecy  with  which  they  were  celebrated. 
The  same  affectation  of  secrecy  in  the  Christian  rites,  and  the  same  lan- 
guage in  speaking  of  them,  without  doubt  procured  as  easy  credit  to 
<hose  calumnies  of  murder  and  incest,  charged  upon  them  by  the  pagans. 
Nay,  what  is  still  more  remarkable,  those  very  specific  enormities  in 
which  their  own  mysteries  were  then  known  to  offend,  they  objected  to 
in  the  Christians. 


THE    ANCIENT    MYSTERIES^  135 

"  A  cataeliumen  is  a  candidate  for  baptism,  or  a  person  who  prepares  himself  for 
receiving  it.  Towards  the  end  of  the  first  century,  Christians  were  divided  into  two 
orders,  distinguished  by  the  names  of  believers  and  catachumens.  The  latter  as  contra, 
distinguished  from  the  former,  were  such  as  had  not  yet  been  dedicated  to  God  and 
Christ  by  baptism,  and  were,  therefore,  admitted  neither  to  the  public  prayers,  nor  to 
the  holy  communion,  nor  to  the  ecclesiastical  assemblies.  As  they  were  not  allowed  to 
assist  at  the  celebration  of  the  eucharlst,  the  deacon  dismissed  them,  after  sermon,  with 
this  formula,  proclaimed  three  times,  ^^Ite  catachumeni  missa  estJ^  (Rees.)  "Missals 
derived  from  viiUo  to  send.  Missa  has  been  used  for  missio.  lU  missa  est  or  missio 
est.     You  may  all  return  home.^'  (Bailey.) 

'•  Quod  norunt^deles,  what  the  faithful  know.  These  words,  or,  as  expressed  in 
Greek,  isasin,  at  jiemuemenoi,  formes  what  may  be  called  the  watch- word  of  the  secret^ 
anii  occur  constantly  in  the  fathers.  Thus  St.  Chrysostom,  for  instance,— in  whose 
writings  Casaubon  remarked  the  recurrence  of  this  phrase,  at  least  fifty  times,  in  speak- 
ing of  the  tongue  (comment,  in  Psalm  153,)  says,  'Reflect  that  this  is  the  member  with 
which  we  receive  the  tremendous  sacrifice, — the  faithful  Jcnow  what  I  speak  of.^ 
Hardly  less  frequent  is  the  occurrence  of  the  same  phrase  in  St.  Augustin,  who  seldom 
ventures  to  intimate  the  eucharist  in  any  other  way  than  by  the  words  Quod  norunt 
fideles." — (Travels  in  search  of  a  Religion,  Phila,  ed.  p.  82.) 

This  precaution  needs  no  apology  when  referring  to  religious  rites,  which  if  exposed, 
would  subject  'its  votaries  to  punishment.— "It  was,  "  says  the  same  writer,  "in  the 
third  century,  when  the  followers  of  Christ  were  most  severely  tried  by  the  fires  of  per- 
secution, that  the  discipline  of  secrecy,  with  respect  to  this  (the  Eucharist)  and  the  other 
mysteries,  was  most  strictly  observed."  "  A  faithful  concealment  (says  Tertulhan)  is  due 
to  all  mysteries  from  the  very  nature  and  constitution  of  them.  How  much  more  must 
it  be  due  to  such  mysteries  as,  if  they  were  once  discovered,  could  not  escape  immediate 
punisment  from  the  hands  of  man." — {Ibid.  p.  73.) 

The  persecuted,  when  they  obtained  the  majority,  became  the  persecutors,  and  the 
Dmids  of  England  were  under  the  same  necessity  of  conceahng  their  dogmas  and  rites, 
as  the  Christians  formerly  had  been.  But  what  excuse  have  the  masons  of  the  pre- 
sent day  for  making  a  mystery  of  the  same  rites  when  not  in  danger  of  persecution? 

There  can  be  no  pretext  for  retaining  a  secret,  when  the  cause  that  gave  it  birth  no 
longer  exists.  Besides,  the  masons  do  not  profess  the  doctrines  of  paganism,  they 
merely  repeat  the  ceremonies,  parrot-like,  without  any  regard  to  or  knowledge  of  the 
original  intention. 


That  the  mysteries  were  invented,  established,  and  supported  by- 
lawgivers,  may  be  seen, 

From  the  place  of  their  original ;  which  was  Egypt.  This  Herod- 
otus, Diodorus,  and  Plutarch,  who  collect  from  ancient  testimonies, 
expressly  affirm ;  and  in  this,  all  antiquity  concurs ;  the  Elusinian 
mysteries,  particularly,  retaining  the  very  Egyptian  gods,  in  whose 
honor  they  were  celebrated ;  Ceres  and  Triptolemus  being  only  two 
other  names  for  Isis  and  Osiris* 

♦Mr.  LeClercowns,  that  Plutarch,  Diodorus,  and  Theodoret  have  all  said  this; 
yet,  the  better  to  support  his  scheme  in  the  interpretation  of  the  history  of  Ceres,  he  has 
thought  fit  to  contradict  them.  Yet  he  in  another  place,  could  see  that  Astarte  was 
certamly  Isis,  as  Adonis  was  Osiris;  and  this,  merely  from  the  identity  of  their  cere- 
monies. 


136  A    DISSERTATION    ON 

Hence  it  is,  that  the  universal  nature,  or  the  first  cause,  the  object  of 
all  the  mysteries,  yet  disguised  under  diverse  names,  speaking  of  her- 
self in  Apuleius,  concludes  the  ennumeration  of  her  various  mystic  rites, 
in  these  words — "  The  Egyptians  skilled  in  ancient  learning,  worship- 
ping me  by  ceremonies  perefectly  appropriate,  call  me  by  my  true  name, 
queen  Isis:^ 

But  the  similitude  between  the  rites  practised,  and  the  doctrinesr- 
taught  in  the  Grecian  and  Egyptian  mysteries,  would  be  alone  suffi- 
cient to  point  up  to  their  original :  such  as  the  secrecy  required  of  the 
initiated;  which,  as  we  shall  see  hereafter,  peculiarly  characterized  the 
Egyptian  teaching;  such  as  the  doctrines  taught  of  a  metempsychosis, 
and  a  future  state  of  rewards  and  punishments,' which  the  Greek  writers 
agree  to  have  been  first  set  abroach  by  the  Egyptians  ;*  such  as  absti- 
nence enjoined  from  domestic  fowl,  fish,  and  beans,  (see  Porphyrins  De 
Abstin,)  the  peculiar  superstition  of  the  Egyptians ;  such  as  the  Ritual 
composed  in  HieroglypHics,  -an  invention  of  the  Egyptians.  But  it 
would  be  endless  to  reckon  up  all  the  particulars'  in  which  the  Eg)^p- 
tian  and  Grecian  mysteries  agree:  it  shall  suffice  to  say,  that  they  were' 
in  all  things  the  same. 

Again  ;  nothing  but  the  supposition  of  this  common  original  to  all 
the  Grecian  mysteries  can  clear  up  aud  reconcile  the  disputes  which 
arose  amongst  the  Grecian  states  and  cities  concerning  the  first  rise  of 
the  mysteries;  every  one  claiming  to  be  original  to  the  rest.  Thus 
Thrace  pretended  that  they  came  first  from  thence ;  Crete  contested  the 
honor  with  those  barbarians ;  and  Athens  claimed  it  from  both.  And 
at  that  time,  when  they  had  forgotten  the  true  original,  it  was  impossi- 
ble to  settle  and  adjust  their  differences:  for  each  could  prove  that  he 
did  not  borrow  from  others ;  and,  at  the  same  time,  seeing  a  similitude 
in  the  rites,  w^ould  conclude,  that  they  had  borrowed  from  him.  But  the 
owning  Egypt  for  their  common  parent,  clears  up  all  difficulties :  by 
accounting  for  that  general  likeness  which  gave  birth  to  every  one's 
pretensions. 

Now,  in  Egypt,  all  religious  worship  being  planned  and  established 
by  statesmen,  and  directed  to  the  ends  of  policy,  we  must  conclude,  th^t 
the  mysteries  were  originally  invented  by  legislators. 

The  sages  who  brought  them  out  of  Egypt,  and  propagated  them  in 
Asia,  in  Greece,  and  Britain,  were  all  kings  or  lawgivers;  such  as 

*  Timseus  the  Locrain,  in  his  book  of  the  soul  of  the  world,  speaking  of  the  necessity 
of  inculcating  the  doctrine  of  future  punishments,   calls  them  Timopiai  xenai,   foreigiri  ^ 
torments ;   by  which  name  both  Latin  and  Greek  writers  generally  mean  Egyptian,  ' 
where  the  subject  is  religion. 


THE    ANCIJENT    MYSTERILS,  137 

Zoroaster,  liiachus,  ()rj)lieus,*  Melampus,  Trophonius,  Minos,  Cinyras, 
Erectheus,  and  the  Druids. 

They  were  under  the  superintendence  of  the  State.  A  magistrate, 
iiititled  Basileus,  or  king,  presided  in  the  Eleusinian  mysteries,  Lysias 
informs  us,  that  this  king  was  to  offer  up  the  public  prayers,  according 
to  their  country  rites;  and  to  see  that  nothing  impious  or  immoral  crept 
into  the  celebration.  (In  Andoc.)  This  title  given  to  the  president  of 
the  mysteries,  was,  doubtless,  in  memory  of  the  first  founder. 

Though  it  be  now  apparent  that  the  mysteries  were  the  invention  of 
the  civil  magistrate,  yet  even  some  ancients,  who  have  mentioned  the 
mysteries,  seemed  not  to  be  apprised  of  it,  and  their  ignorance  hath  occa- 
sioned great  embroilment  in  all  they  say  on  this  subject.  The  reader 
may  see  by  the  second  chapter  of  Meursius'  Eleusinia,  how  much  the 
ancients  were  at  a  loss  for  the  true  founder  of  those  mysteries :  some 
giving  the  institution  to  Ceres ;  some  to  Triptolemus;  others  to  Eumol- 
pus  ;  others  to  Musseus  ;  and  some  again  to  Erectheus.  How  then  shall 
we  disengage  ourselves  from  this  labyrinth,  into  which  Meursius  has 
led  us,  and  in  which,  his  guard  of  ancients  keep  us  inclosed  ?•  This  clue 
will  easily  conduct  us  through  it.  It  appears,  from  what  hath  been  said, 
that  Erectheus,  king  of  Athens,  established  the  mysteries;!  but  that  the 
people  unluckily  confounded  the  institutor,  with  the  priests,  Eumolpus 
and  Musseus,  who  first  officiated  in  the  rites ;  and,  with  Ceres  and 
Triptolemus,  the  deities,  in  whose  honor  they  were  celebrated.  And 
these  mistakes  were  natural  enough :  the  poets  would  be  apt,  in  the 
licence  of  their  figurative  style,  to  call  the  gods,  in  whose  name  the 
mysteries  were  performed,  the  founders  of  those  mysteries ;  and  the 
people,  seeing  only  the  ministry  of  the  officiating  priests,  in  good  earnest 
believed  those  mystagogues  to  be  the  founders.  And  yet,  if  it  were 
reasonable  to  expect  from  poets  or  people,  attention  to  their  own  fancies 
and  opinions,  one  would  think  they  might  have  distinguished  better,  by 
the  help  of  that  mark,  which  Erectheus  left  behind  him,  to  ascertain  his 
title  ;  namely,,  the  erection  of  the  officer  called  Basileus,  or  king. 

But  this  original  is  still  further  seen  from  the  qualities  required  in 
the  aspirants  to  the  mysteries.  According  to  their  original  institution, 
neither  slaves  nor  foreigners  were  to  be  admitted  into  them.J     Now  if 

*  Of  whom  Aristophanes  says,  "  Orpheus  taught  ue  the  mysteries,  and  to  abstain 
from  murder,"  that  is,  from  a  Hfe  of  rapine  and  violence,  sucli  as  men  lived  in  the  state 
of  nature. 

t  And  so  says  Diodorus  Siculus,  lib.  i.  Bibl. 

t  Schol.  Hom.  II.  — .  It  was  the  same  in  the  Cabiric  mysteries,  as  we  learn  from 
Diodorus  Siculus,  lib.  v.  who  speaks  of  the  •like  innovation  made  there.  As  to  slaves, 
hear  Aristophanes  in  his  ThesmophoHaz.  "  Begone,  ye  vulgar  crew,  it  is  not  fitting  that 
."laves  should  hear  these  words." 

18 


138  A    DISSERTATION    ON 

the  mysteries  were  instituted,  primarily  for  the  sake  of  teaching  religious 
truths,  there  can  be  no  reason  given  why  every  man,  with  the  proper 
moral  qualities,  should  not  be  admitted  :  but  supposing  them  instituted 
by  the  state  for  political  purposes,  a  very  good  one  may  be  assigned ; 
for  slaves  and  foreigners  have  there  neither  property  nor  country. 
When  afterwards  the  Greeks,  by  frequent  confederations  against  the 
Persian,  the  common  enemy  of  their  liberties,  began  to  consider  them- 
selves as  one  people  and  community,  the  mysteries  were  extended  to  all 
who  spoke  the  Greek  language.  Yet  the  ancients,  not  reflecting  on  the 
original  and  end  of  their  institution,  were  much  perplexed  for  the  reasons 
of  an  exclusion  so  apparently  capricious.  Lucian  tells  us,  in  the  life  of 
his  friend  Demonax,,  that  that  great  philosepher  had  the  courage,  one 
day,  to  ask  the  Athenians,  why  they  excluded  barbarians  from  their  mys- 
teries, when  Eumolpus,  a  barbarous  Thracian,  had  established  them:* 
but  he  does  not  tell  us  their  answer.  One  of  the  most  judicious  of  the 
modern  critics  (Is.  Casaubon)  was  as  much  at  a  loss;  and  therefore 
thinks  the  restraint  ridiculous,  as  implying,  that  the  institutors  thought 
the  speaking  the  Greek  tongue  contributed  to  the  advancement  of 
piety.  ^ 

Another  proof  of  this  original  may  be  deduced  from  what  was  taught, 
promiscuously  to  all  the  initiated;  which  was,  the  necessity  of  a 
virtuous  and  holy  life,  to  obtain  a  happy  immortality.  Now  this,  we 
know,  could  not  come  from  the  sacerdotal  warehouse:  the  priests  could 
afford  their  slysium,  at  the  easy  expense  of  oblations  and  sacrifices : 
for,  as  our  great  philosopher  (who,  however,  was  not  aware  of  this 
extraordinary  institution  for  the  support  of  virtue,  and  therefore  con- 
cludes too  generally)  well  observes,  "  the  priests  made  it  not  their  busi- 
ness to  teach  the  people  virtue :  if  they  were  diligent  in  their  observances 
and  ceremonies,  punctual  in  their  feasts  and  solemnities,  and  the  tricks 
of  religion,  the  holy  tribe  assured  them  that  the  gods  w-ere  pleased,  and 
ihey  looked  no  further:  few  went  to  the  schools  of  philosophers,  to  be 
instructed  in  their  duty,  and  to  know  what  was  good  and  evil  in  their 
actions  :  the  priests  sold  the  better  pennyworths,  and  therefore  had  all 
the  custom :  for  lustrations  and  sacrifices  were  much  easier  than  a 
clean  conscience  and  a  steady  course  of  virtue ;  and  an  expiatory  sacri- 
fice, that  atoned  for  the  want  of  it,  much  more  conveniant  than  a  strict 
and  holy  life. — (Locke's  Reasonableness  of  Christianity.)     Now  we 

*  But  the  fact,  their  not  being  a  Grecian  but  a  foreign,  that  is,  barbarous,  invention, 
is  proved  by  their  very  name,  mysteria,  from  the  eastern  dialect,  mistor,  or  mistur,  res 
aut  locus  aoaconditus— (a  thing  or  place  hid.) 


THE    ANCIENT    MYSTERIES.  139 

may  be  assured,  that  air  "institution,  which  taught  the  necessity  of  a 
strict  and  holy  life,  could  not  but  be  the  invention  of  lawgivers,  to 
whose  schemes  virtue  was  so  necessary. 

It  is  now  submitted  to  the  reader,  whether  it  be  not  fairly  proved, 
that  the  mysteries  were  invented  by  the  legislator,  to  affirm  and  establish 
the  general  doctrine  of  a  providence,  by  inculcating  the  belief  of  a  future 
state  of  rewards  and  punishments.  Indeed,  if  we  may  believe  a  certain 
ancient,  who  appears  to  have  been  well  versed  in  these  matters,  they 
gained  their  end,  by  clearing  up  all  doubts  concerning  the  righteous 
government  of  the  gods.  (Sopater  in  Divis.  Quest.) 


It  seems  of  very  little  importance  to  determine  whether  the  mysteries  were  the  inven- 
tion of  civil  legislators,  or  of  the  sacredotal  order.  And  in  fact,  in  Egypt  where  they 
were  first  established,  the  priesthood  and  the  legislators  formed  but  one  body.  This 
was  also  the  case  in  Britain,  where  the  Druids  performed  the  offices  of  priests,  and 
were  at  the  same  time  the  makers  of  the  laws. 

Tytler,  in  his  Elements  of  general  History  in  the  chapter  on  Egypt,  says,  ' '  The 
functions  of  the  sovereign  were  partly  civil,  and  partly  religious.  The  king  had  the  chief 
regulation  of  all  that  regarded  the  gods  :  and  the  priests,  considered  as  his  deputies,  fil- 
led all  the  offices  of  state.  They  were  both  the  legislators  and  the  civil  Judges ;  they 
imposed    and  levied  the  taxes,  and  regulated  weights  and  measures." 

The  title  of  Basileus  {king)  given  to  one  of  the  officers  in  the  celebrations  of  the 
mysteries,  who  is  decorated  with  a  crown,  has  doubtless  caused  the  supposition  that 
this  character  was  the  representative  of  civil,  temporal  power.  Whereas  the  crown 
was  originally  the  ensign  of  divinity.  "  In  the  remotest  antiquity,  the  crown  was  only 
given  to  gods.  Leo,  the  Egyptian,  says,  it  was  Isis  who  first  wore  a  crown,  and  that 
it  consisted  of  ears  of  corn  [grain]  the  use  whereof  she  first  taught  men. 

"  in  this  most  authors  agree,  that  the  crown  originally  was  rather  a  religious  than 
a  civil  ornament ;  rather  one  of  the  pontificalia,  than  the  regalia  ;  that  it  only -became 
common  to  kings,  as  the  ancient  kings  were  priests  as  well  as  princes ;  and  that  the 
modern  princes  are  entitled  to  it  in  their  ecclesiastical  capacity  rather  than  their  tempo- 
ral."—(i?ees'5  Cycl) 

The  author  cites  no  authority  for  his  assertion  that,  "  A  magistrate,  entitled  Basileus 
or  king,  presided  in  the  Eleusinian  mysteries."  But,  he  says,  "  Lysias  informs  us  that 
this  king,  was  to  offer  up  the  public  prayers,  according  to  their  country  rites  ;  and  to 
see  that  nothing  impious  or  immoral  crept  into  the  celebration." 

Lysias,  it  appears,  was  noticed  by  Cicero  as  an  orator  of  some  repute,  but  he  is  little 
known  as  an  author ;  and  he  seems  in  this  cage,  to  have  indulged  his  fancy  in  one  of  his 
popular  orntions,  without  possessing  an  absoluteTtno^yledge  of  the  trutli  of  his  declara- 
tion; for  there  is  no  evidence  of  his  having  been  initiated  into  the  mysteries.  He  was 
no  doubt,  deceived  by  the  title  given  to  one  of  the  officers  in  these  celebrations,  which 
was  very  likely  to  be  generally  known. 

Besides,  the  bishop  has  shown  above,  that,  "  By  a  law  of  Solon,  the  Senate  was 
always  to  meet  the  day  after  the  celebration  of  these  mysteries,  to  see  that  nothing 
had  been  done  amiss  during  the  performance."  Now,  if  there  were  a  magistrate  appointed 
by  the  king,    bearing  his  title,  and  presiding  in  these  celebrations  as  his  representa- 


140  '  A    DISSERTATION    ON 

tive  what  need  would  there   be  for  the  meeting  of  the  senate  for  the  purpose  here 
stated.  ^ 

Jamblichus,  who,  by  the  by,  was  a  Pagan  priest,  and  appears  to  be  thoroughly  versed 
in  the  metaphysical  science  of  the  gods,  has  clearly  intimated  who  this  Basileus  of  the 
mysteries  was.  In  speaking  of  the  one  Supreme,  he  says  "prior  to  truly  existing  beings 
and  total  principles,  there  is  one  god,  prior  to  the  Jlrst  god  and  king,  immoveable,  and 
abiding  in  the  sohiude  of  his  own  unity.  Who  is  father  of  himself,  is  self-begotten,  is 
father  alone,  and  is  truly  good." — {See  Taylor's  Trans,  p.  301.) 

The  original  of  that  part  of  the  passage  particularly  alluded  to  isproton  kai  ton  pro- 
ton Theon  kai  Basileus  ;  which  Gale  properly  translates,  prior  etiam  primo  Deo,  et 
rege  [sole.]  That  is,  prior  to  the  first  god  and  king,  the  sun.  For  it  is  well  known 
that  the  sun  was  the  first  object  of  adoration  among  all  the  ancient  nations,  and  he 
was  styled  the  king  or  governor  of  the  world. 

The  Supreme  God,  alluded  to  by  Jamblichus,  was  called  in  Egypt,  Kneph,  of  whom 
Plutarch  says  "  the  unbegotten  Kneph  was  celebrated  with  an  extraordinary  degree  of 
veneration  by  the  Egyptian  Thebans." 

As  a  further  proof  of  the  erroneous  opinion  formed  by  our  author  on  this  subject, 
an  appeal  may  be  made  to  the  practice  of  royal  arch  masonry,  which  I  deem  conclu- 
Bive  in  this  and  similar  cases.  Here  the  hierophant  or  high  priest  is  the  presiding  officer 
and  the  king  holds  the  second  rank,  and  presides  only  in  the  absence  of  the  former. 
And  the  idea  that  this  officer  was  ever  the  representative  of  an  earthly  monarch  was 
never  entertained  by  masons.  No  civil  power  has  ever  exercised  any  authority  in  the 
lodge  ;  and  although  some  of  the  royal  family  of  England,  and  also  of  other  countries 
have  become  members  of  the  fraternity,  they  enter  it  like  other  men,  on  the  ground  of 
perfect  equality.  In  short,  the  officer  styled  king,  personates  Osiris  the  sun,  one  of  the 
divinities  celebrated  in  the  mysteries,  the  second  person  in  the  pagan  trinity. 

It  is  worthy  of  remark,  and  perhaps  here  is  the  most  proper  place  to  make  it,  that 
masonry  conforms  to  the  practice  of  the  Egyptians,  in  prohibiting  to  slaves  a  participa- 
tion of  its  my.=?tic  rites.  It  excludes  also  all  those  who  possess  any  bodily  defect.  That 
a  benevolent  society,  as  the  masonic  institution  is,  should  make  a  misfortune  of  this 
kind  the  cause  of  debaring  admission  to  its  social  and  friendly  communion,  admits  of 
no  justification  ;  no  mason  can  give  a  plausible  reason  for  it. 

It  is  an  outrage  against  humanity.  Any  one  who,  in  fighting  the  battles  of  liberty 
and  his  country,  should  have  lost  a  leg  or  an  arm  in  the  conflict,  would  in  vain  apply 
for  admission  into  this  society.  Every  mason  has  sworn  not  to  be  present  at  the  initia  ■ 
tion  of  a  person  thus  situated.  He  is  bound  down  with  the  adamantine  chains  of  pre- 
cedent, which  has  often  perverted  the  plainest  principles  of  justice  and  common  sense. 

I  do  not  believe  there  is  a  single  mason  who  would  not  wish  to  get  rid  of  this  rule 
but  the  fraternity  entertain  a  religious  horror  against  defacing  the  "oZd  land  marks" — 
The  oaths,  therefore,  engendered  in  days  of  darkness  and  superstition,  must  remain  the 
same  to  the  end  of  time. 

This  circumstance  alone  is  a  strong  proof  of  the  origin  of  the  order.  The  practice 
•rises from  a  stupid  adherence  to  the  religious  customs  and  observances  of  the  ancient 
Egyptians.  The  mysteries,  it  has  been  seen,  were  deemed  a  sacred  institution,  and  the 
most  rigid  investigation  of  character,  and  the  severest  trials  were  imposed  upon  the 
aspirant*  to  its  benefits.  "  No  person,  says  De  Pauw  (in  his  Phil.  Diss,  on  the  Egypt, 
and  Chinese,)  who  was  born  with  any  remarkable  bodily  imperfedion,  could  be  con- 
secrated in  Egypt ;  and  the  very  animals,  when  deformed,  where  never  used  either  for 
sacrifice,  or  in  symbolical  worship." 

The  Levites  among  the  Jews  were  subjected  to  the  same  rigid  discipline  ;  no  one 
ihat  had  the  leapt  bodily  blemish  could  be  admitted  fnto  the  sacerdotal  order. 


THE    ANCIENT    MYSTERIKS.  Ml 

"  As  to  the  admittance  of  the  Levites  into  the  ministry,  birth  alone  did  not  give  it 
to  them  ;  they  were  likewise  obhged  to  receive  a  sort  of  consecration.  Take  the  Levites 
from  among  the  children  of  Israel,  says  God  to  Moses,  and  cleanse  them.  And  thus 
shalt  thou  do  unto  them,  to  cleanse  them  ;  sprinkle  water  of  purifying  upon  them,  and 
let  them  shave  all  their  flesh,  and  let  them  wash  their  clothes,  and  so  make  themselves 
clean.    Then  let  them  take  a  young  bullock,  etc.    Numbers,  viii.  v.  6. 

Nor  was  any  Levite  permitted  to  exercise  his  functions  till  after  he  had  served  a  sort 
of  novitiate  for  five  years,  in  which  he  carefully  learned  all  that  related  to  his  ministry. 

**  From  considering  their  order,  we  proceed  to  consider  the  manner  in  which  the 
priests  were  chosen,  and  the  defects  which  excluded  them  from  the  priesthood.  Among 
the  defects  of  body,  which  rendered  them  unworthy  of  the  sacerdotal  functions,  the  Jews 
reckon  xvpffty  which  are  common  to  men  and  other  animals,  and  ninety  which  are 
peculiar  to  men  alone.  The  priest  whose  birth  was  polluted  with  any  profaneness,  was 
clothed  in  black,  and  sent  without  the  verge  of  the  priests'  court,  but  he  who  was 
chosen  by  the  judges  appointed  for  that  purpose,  was  clothed  in  white,  and  joined  him- 
self to  the  other  priests.  And  I  know  not  whether  St.  John  does  not  allude  to  this 
custom  when  he  says,  "He  that  overcometh,  the  same  shall  be  clothed  in  white  rai- 
ment ;  and  I  will  not  blot  his  name  out  of  the  book  of  life."  {Rev.  iii.  v.  5.)  They 
whose  birth  was  pure,  but  who  had  some  defect  of  body,  lived  in  those  appartments  of 
the  temple  wherein  the  stores  of  wood  were  kept,  and  were  obliged  to  split,  and  pre- 
pare it  for  keeping  up  the  fire  of  the  altar."  (Rev.  Adam  Clarke's  Hist.  Anc.  Israelites. 
BuriingtonEdit.— p.273,  279.) 

There  is  a  remarkable  similarity  in  the  institutions  of  the  Egyptians,  Jews,  and 
Freemasons.  The  probation  of  four  years  was  required  after  initiation  into  the  lesser 
mysteries,  before  the  candidate  could  be  admitted  to  a  participation  of  the  greater.  An 
entered  apprentice  in  the  lodge  of  Freemasons  had  formerly  to  serve  seven  years  in 
that  grade  before  he  could  be  advanced.  This  extra  time,  however,  arose  from  the 
necessity  of  adapting  the  rules  of  the  order  to  the  craft  of  masonry ;  it  being  the  usual 
period  required  for  apprentices  in  that  and  other  mechanical  trades.  The  members  of 
the  masonic  fraternity  also  "  formerly  wore  white  during  lodge-hours  but  at  present 
the  white  apron  alone  remains."— (Smif/i.) 


CHAPTER    III. 


AN  EXAMINATION  OF  VIRGIL's  SIXTH  BOOK  OF  THE  ENEID  :  IN 
WHICH  IT  IS  SHOWN,  THAT  THE  ALLEGORICAL  DESCENT  OF 
ENEAS  INTO  HELL,  IS  NO  OTHER  THAN  AN  ENIGMATICAL  REPRE- 
SENTATION   OF    HIS    INITIATION    INTO    THE    MYSTERIES. 

We  have  seen  in  general,  how  fond  and  tenacious  ancient  pagan- 
ism was  of  this  extraordinary  rite,  as  of  an  institution  supremely  use- 
ful both  to  society  and  religion.  But  this  will  be  seen  more  fully  in 
what  I  now  proceed  to  lay  before  the  reader ;  an  examination  of  two 
celebrated  pieces  of  antiquity,  the  famous  Sixth  Book  of  VirgiVs  Eneid, 
and  the  Metamorphosis  of  Apuleius.  The  first  of  which  will  show  us 
of  what  use  the  mysteries  were  esteemed  to  society ;  and  the  second,  of 
w^hat  use  to  religion. 

An  inquiry  into  Eneas'  adventure  to  the  shades,  will  have  this 
farther  advantage,  the  instructing  us  in  the  shows  and  representations  of 
the  mysteries;  a  part  of  their  history,  which  the  form  of  this  discourse 
upon  them  hath  not  yet  enabled  us  to  give.  So  that  nothing  will  be 
now  wanting  to  a  perfect  knowledge  of  this  most  extraordinary  and 
important  institution. 

For,  the  descent  of  Virgil's  hero  into  the  infernal  regions,  I  presume 
was  no  other  than  a  figurative  description  of  an  initiation;  and  par- 
ticularly, a  very  exact  picture  of  the  spectacles  in  the  Elensinian  mys- 
teries ;  where  every  thing  was  done  in  show  and  machinery ;  and 
where  a  representation  of  the  history  of  Ceres  aflforded  opportunity  of 
bringing  in  the  scenes  of  heaven,  hell,  elysium,  purgatory,  and  what. 
ever  related  to  the  future  state  of  men  and  heroes. 

As  the  Eneid  is  in  the  style  of  ancient  legislation,  it  would  be  hard 
to  think  that  so  great  a  master  in  his  art,  should  overlook  a  doctrine, 
which,  we  have  shown,  was  the  foundation  and  support  of  ancient 
politics;  namely  a  future  state  of  rewards  and  punishments.  Accord- 
ingly he  hath  givenus  a  complete  system  of  it,  in  imitation  of  his  models, 
which  were  Plato's  vision  of  Erus,  and  Tully's  dream  of  Scipio, 
Again,  as  the  lawgiver  took  care  to  support  this  doctrine  by  a  very 
extraordinary  institution,  and  to  commemorate  it  by  a  rite,  which  had  all 
the  allurement  of  spectacle ;  and  afforded  matter  for  the  utmost  embel- 


THE    ANCIENT    MYSTERIES.  143 

lishments  of  poetry,  we  cannot  but  confess  a  description  of  such  a  scene 
would  add  largely  to  the  grace  and  elegance  of  his  work ;  and  must 
conclude  he  would  be  invited  to  attempt  it.  Accordingly,  he  hath  done 
this  likewise,  in  the  allegorical  descent  of  Eneas  into  hell ;  which 
is  no  other  than  an  enigmatical  representation  of  his  initiation  into  the 
mysteries. 

Virgil  was  to  represent  a  perfect  lawgiver,  in  the  person  of  Eneas  ; 
now,  initiation  into  the  mysteries  was  what  sanctified  his  character  and 
enobled  his  function.  Hence  we  find  all  the  ancient  heroes  and  law- 
givers were,  in  fact,  initiated. 

Another  reason  for  the  hero's  initiation,  was  the  important  instruc- 
tions he  received  in  matters  that  concerned  his  office. 

A  third  reason  for  his  initiation,  was  the  custom  of  seeking  support 
and  inspiration- from  the  god  who  presided  in  the  mysteries. 

A  fourth  reason  for  his  initiation,  was  the  circumstance  in  which  the 
poet  has  placed  him,  unsettled  in  his  affairs,  and  anxious  about  his 
future  fortune.  Now,  amongst  the  uses  of  initiation,  the  advice  and 
direction  of  the  oracle  was  not  the  least.  And  an  oracular  bureau  was 
so  necessary  an  appendix  to  some  of  the  mysteries,  as  particularly  the 
Samothracian,  that  Plutarch,  speaking  of  Lysander's  initiation  there 
expresses  it  by  a  word  that  signifies  consulting  the  oracle :  on  this 
occount,  Jason,  Orpheus,  Hercules,  Castor,  and  (as  Macrobius  says) 
Tarquinius  Prise  us,  were  every  one  of  them  initiated'into  those  mys- 
teries. 

All  this  the  poet  seems  clearly  to  have  intimated  m  the  speech  of 
Anchises  to  his  son  : 

"  Carry  with  you  to  Italy  the  choisest  of  the  youths,  the  stoutest 
hearts.  In  Latium  you  have  to  subdue  a  hardy  race,  rugged  in  man- 
ners. But  first,  my  son,  visit  Pluto's  infernal  mansions,  and,  in  quest  of 
an  interview  with  me,  cross  the  deep  floods  of  Avernus." 

A  fifth  reason  was  the  conforming  to  the  old  popular  tradition,  which 
said,  that  several  other  heroes  of  the  Trojan  times,  such  as  Agamemnon 
and  Ulysses,  had  been  initiated. 

A  sixth,  and  principal  was,  that  Augustus,  who  was  shadowed  in 
the  person  of  Eneas,  had  been  initiated  into  the  Eleusinian  mysteries. — 
(Suet.  Oct.  cap.  xciii.) 

While  the  mysteries  were  confined  to  Egypt,  their  native  country, 
and  while  the  Grecian  lawgivers  went  thither  to  be  initiated,  as  a  kind 
of  designation  to  their  office,  the  ceremony  would  be  naturally  described, 
in  terms  highly  allegorical.     This  was,  in  part,  owing  to  the  genius  of 


144  A    DISSERTATION    ON 

the  Egyptian  manners ;  in  part,  to  the  humor  of  travelers;  but  most  of 
all,  to  the  policy  of  lawgivers;  who,  returning  home,  to  civilize  a  bar- 
barous people,  by  laws  and  arts,  found  it  useful  and  necessary  (in  order 
to  support  their  own  characters,  and  to  establish  the  fundamental  prin- 
ciple of  a  future  state)  to  represent  that  initiation,  in  which,  they  saw  the 
state  of  departed  mortals  in  machinery,  as  an  actual  descent  into  hell. 
This  way  of  speaking  was  used  by  Orpheus,  Bacchus,  and  others  ;  and 
continued  even  after  the  mysteries  were  introduced  into  Greece,  as 
appearsby  the  fables  of  Hercules,  Castor,  Pollux,  and  Theseus's  descent 
into  hell.  But  the  allegory  was  generally  so  circumstanced,  as  to  dis- 
cover the  truth  concealed  under  it.  So  Orpheus  is  said  to  go  to  hell  by 
the  power  of  his  harp;  that  is,  in  quality  of  lawgiver  ;  the  harp  being 
the  known  symbol  of  his  laws,  by  which  he  humanized  a  rude  and  bar- 
barous people.  So  again,  in  the  lives  of  Hercules  and  Bacchus,  we 
have  the  true  history,  and  the  fable  founded  on  it,  blended  and  recorded 
together.  For  we  are  told,  that  they  were  in  fact  initiated  into  the 
Eleusinian  mysteries ;  and  that  it  was  just  before  their  descent  into  hell, 
as  an  aid  and  security  in  that  desperate  undertaking.  Which,  in  plain 
speech,  was  no  more,  than  that  they  could  not  safely  see  the  shows,  till 
they  had  been  initiated.  The  same  may  be  said  of  what  is  told  us  of 
Theseus's  adventure.  Near  Eleusis  there  was  a  well,  called  Callicho- 
rus ;  and,  adjoining  to  that,  a  stone,  on  which,  as  the  tradition  went, 
Ceres  sat  down,  sad  and  loeary,  6n  her  coming  to  Eleusis.  Hence  the 
stone  was  named  Agelastus,  the  melancholy  stone.  On  which  account  it 
was  deemed  unlawful  for  the  initiated  to  sit  thereon.  "  For  Ceres,  (says 
Clemens)  wandering  abouiin  search  of  her  daughter  Proserpine,  when 
she  came  to  Eleusis,  grew  weary,  and  sat  down  melancholy  on  the  side 
of  a  well.  So  that,  to  this  very  day,  it  is  unlawful  for  the  initiated  to 
sit  down  there,  lest  they,  whp  are  now  become  perfect,  should  seem  to 
imitate  her  in  her  desolate  condition."  Now  let  us  see  what  they  tell 
us  concerning  Theseus's  descent  into  hell.  "There  is  also  a  stone," 
says  the  scholiast  on  Aristophanes,  "called  by  the  Athenians,  Agelastus ; 
on  which,  they  say,  Theseus  sat  when  he  was  meditating  his  descent 
into  hell.  Hence  the  stone  had  its  name.  Or,  perhaps,  because  Ceres 
sat  there,  weeping,  when  she  sought  Proserpine."  All  this  seems 
plainly  to  intimate,  that  the  descent  of  Theseus  was  his  entrance  into  the 
Eleusinian  mysteries.  Which  entrance,  as  we  shall  see  hereafter,  was  a 
fraudulent  intrusion. 

Both  Euripides  and  Aristophanes  seem  to  confirm  our  interpreta- 
tion  of  these  descents  into  hell.     Euripides,  in  his  Hercules  furens, 


THE    ANCIENT    MYSTERIES.  145 

brings  the  hero,  just  come  from  hell,  to  succor  his  family,  and  destroy 
the  tyrant  Lycus.  Juno,  ,in  revenge,  persecutes  him  with  the  furies ; 
and  he,  in  his  transport,  kills  his  wife  and  children,  whom  he  mistakes 
for  his  enemies.  When  he  comes  to  himself,  he  is  comforted  by  his 
friend  Theseus;  who  would  excuse  his  excesses  by  the  criminal 
examples  of  the  gods  :  a  consideration,  which,  as  I  have  observed  above^ 
greatly  encouraged  the  people  in  their  irregularities;  and  was  therefore 
obviated  in  the  mysteries,  by  the  detection  of  the  vulgar  errors  of  poly- 
theism. Now  Euripides  seems  plainly  enough  to  have  told  us  what 
he  thought  of  the  fabulous  descents  into  hell,  by  making  Hercules  reply, 
like  one  just  come  from  the  celebration  of  the  mysteries,  and  entrusted 
with  the  aporreta.  "  The  examples,"  says  he,  "  which  you  bring  of  the 
gods,  are  nothing  to  the  purpose.  I  cannot  think  them  guilty  of  the 
cringes  imputed  to  them.  -I  cannot  apprehend,  how  one  god  can  be  the 
sovereign  of  another  god.  A  god,  who  is  truly  so,  stands  in  need  of  no 
one.  Reject  we  then  these  idle  fables,  which  the  poets  teach  concerning 
them."  A  secret,  which  we  must  suppose,  Theseus  had  not  yet 
learnt. 

The  comic  poet,  in  his  Frogs,  tells  us  as  plainly  what  he  too  under- 
stood to  be  the  ancient  heroes'  descent  into  hell,  by  the  equipage,  which 
he  gives  to  Bacchus,  when  he  brings  him  in,  inquiring  the  way  of 
Hercules.  It  was  the  custom,  at  the  celebration  of  the  Eleusinian  mys- 
teries, as  we  are  told  by  the  scholiast  on  the  place,  to  have  what 
was  wanted  in  those  rites,  carried  upon  asses.  Hence  the  proverb, 
Asinus  portat  mysleria  :  accordingly  the  poet  introduces  Bacchus,  fol- 
lowed by  his  buffoon  servant,  Xanthius,  bearing  a  bundle  in  like  man- 
ner, and  riding  on  an  ass.  And,  lest  the  meaning  of  this  should  be 
mistaken,  Xanthius,  on  Hercules's  telling  Bacchus,  that  the  inhabitants 
of  Elysium  were  initiated,  puts  in,  and  says,  "  And  I  am  the  ass  carry- 
ing mysteries."  This  was  so  broad  a  hint,  that  it  seems  to  have 
awakened  the  old  scholiast ;  who,  when  he  comes  to  that  place,  where 
the  chorus  of  the  initiated*  appears,  tells  us,  we  are  not  to  understand 
this  scene  as  really  lying  in  the  Elysian  fields,  but  in  the  Eleusinian 
mysteries. 

Here  then,  as  was  the  case  in  many  other  of  the  ancient  fables,  the 
pomp  of  expression  betrayed  willing  posterity  into  the  marvellous.    But 


_*  The  resemblance  between  the  practices  of  masonry  and  those  of  the  ancient  mys- 
teries, 18  too  striking  not  to  be  noticed.  Here  we  have  the  chorus  of  the  initiated ;  in 
masonry,  we  observe  the  apprentice's,  the  fellow  craft's,  and  the  master  mason's  chorut 
or  song ;  that  is,  songs  adapted  to  each  degree.— Edit. 

19 


146  A    DISSERTATION    0?( 

why  need  we  wonder  at  this  in  the  genius  of  more  ancient  times,  which 
delighted  to  tell  the  commonest  things  in  a  highly  figurative  manner, 
when  a  writer  of  so  late  an  age  as  Apuleius,  either  in  imitation  of  anti- 
quity, or  perhaps  in  compliance  to  the  received  phraseology  of  the  mys- 
teries, describes  his  initiation  in  the  same  manner.  "  I  approached  to 
the  confines  of  death,  and  having  trod  on  the  threshold  of  Proserpine,  I 
returned  from  it,  being  carried  through  all  the  elements.  At  midnight 
I  saw  the  sun  shining  with  a  splended  light;  and  I  manifestly  drew 
near  to  the  gods  beneath,  and  the  gods  above,  and  proximately  adored 
them." 

Eneas  could  not  have  described  his  night's  journey  to  his  com, 
panions,  after  he  had  been  let  out  of  the  ivory  gate,  in  properer  terms, 
had  it  been  indeed  to  be  understood  as  a  journey  into  hell. 

Thus,  we  see,  Virgil  was  obliged  to  have  his  hero  initiated ;  and 
♦.hat  he  had  the  authority  of  fabulous  antiquity  to  call  his  initiation  a 
descent  into  hell.  And  surely  he  made  use  of  his  advantages  with 
great  judgment ;  for  such  a  fiction  animates  the  relation,  which,  delivered 
out  of  allegory,  had  been  too  cold  and  flat  for  epic  poetry. 

Had  an  old  poem,  under  the  name  of  Orpheus,  entitled,  "  A  descent 
into  hell"  been  now  extant,  it  would,  perhaps,  liave  shown  us,  that  no 
more  was  meant  than  Orpheus's  initiation;  and  that  the  idea  of  this 
sixth  book  was  taken  from  thence. 

But  further,  it  was  customary  for  the  poets  of  the  Augustan  age  tQ 
exercise  themselves  on  the  subject  of  the  mysteries,  as  appears  from 
Cicero,  who  desires  Atticus,  then  at  Athens,  and  initiated,  to  send  to 
Chilius,  a  poet  of  eminence,  anaccount  of  the  Eleusinian  mysteries;  in 
order,  as  it  would  seem,  to  insert  into  some  poem  he  was  then  writing. 
Thus  it  appeirs,  that  both  the  ancient  and  modern  poets  afforded  Virgil 
a  pattern  for  this  famous  episode. 

Even  Servius  saw  thus  far  into  Virgil's  design,  as  to  say,  that 
many  things  were  delivered  according  to  the  profound  learning  of  the 
Egyptian  theology.  And  we  have  shown  that  the  doctrines  taught  in 
the  mysteries,  were  invented  by  that  people.  But  though  I  say  this 
was  our  poet's  general  design,  I  would  not  be  supposed  to  think  he  fol- 
lowed no  other  guides.  Several  of  the  circumstances  are  borrowed 
from  Homer;  and  several  of  the  philosophic  notions  from  Plato  :  some 
of  which  will  be  taken  notice  of,  in  their  place. 

The  great  manager  in  this  affair  is  the  sibyl ;  and,  as  a  virgin,  she 
Bustains  two  principal  and  distinct  parts:  that  of  the  insip\Ted  priestess^. 


THE    ANCIENT    MYSTERIES.  147 

to  pronounce  the  oracle  ;  and  that  of  hierophant,  to  conduct  the  initiated 
through  the  whole  celebration.*" 

For  as  we  have  observed,  the  initiated  had  a  guide  or  conductor* 
called  Hierophantes,  Mystagogos,  indifferently  of  either  sex,  who  was 
to  instruct  him  in  the  preparatory  ceremonies,  and  lead  him  through 
and  explain  to  him,  all  the  shows  and  representations  of  the  mysteries 
Hence  Yugi\c?i\\sihQS\hy\  Magna  Sacerdos,  and  Docla  Comes,  words 
of  equivalent  signification.  And  as  the  female  mystagogue,  as  well  as 
the  male,  was  devoted  to  a  single  life,  so  was  the  Cumasan  Sibyl,  whom 
he  calls  Casta  Sibylla.  Another  reason  why  a  priestess  is  given  to 
conduct  him,  is,  because  Proserpine  presides  in  this  whole  affair.  And 
the  name  of  the  priestess  in  the  Eleusinian  mysteries  shows  that  she 
properly  belonged  to  Proserpine,  though  she  was  called  the  priestess  o 
Ceres.  "  The  ancients,"  says  Porphyrius,  "  called  the  priestesses  of 
Ceres,  Melissai,  {bees,)  as  being  the  ministers  or  hierophants  of  the  sub- 
terraneous goddess ;  and  Proserpine  herself,  Melitodes. 

It  was  for  this  reason  that  these  female  hierophants  were  dalled 
Melissai,  as  is  well  observed  by  the  Schol.  on  Pind.  in  Pyth.  the  bee 
being,  among  the  ancients,  the  symbol  oj  chastity.^ 

Gluod  nee  concubitu  indulgent,  nee  corpora  segnes 
In  Venerem  solvunt. 

The  first  instruction  the  priestess  gives  Eneas,  is  to  search  for  the 
golden  bough,  sacred  to  Proserpine. 

Under  this  branch  is  concealed  the  wreath  of  myrtle,  with  which  the 
initiated  were  crowned,  at  the  celebration  of  the  mysteries — (Schol.  Aris- 
toph.  Ranis.) 

The  golden  bough  is  said  to  be  sacred  to  Proserpine,  and  so  weard 
told  was  the  myrtle ;  Proserpine  only  is  mentioned  all  the  way ;  partly, 
because  the  initiation  is  described  as  an  actual  descent  into  hell ;  but 
principally,  because,  when  the  rites  of  the  mysteries  were  performed* 
Ceres  and  Proserpine  were  equally  invoked  ;  but  when  the  shows  were 
represented,  then  Proserpine  alone  presided :  now  this  book  is  a  repre- 
sentation of  the  shows  of  the  mysteries.  The  quality  of  this  golden 
bough,  with  its  lento  vimine,  admirably  describes  the  tender  branches  6f 
myrtle.  But  the  reader  may  ask,  why  is  this  myrtle-branch  represented 
to  be  of  gold  ?  '  not  merely  for  the  sake  of  the  marvellous,  he  may  be 

♦This  remark  can  apply  only  to  tlie  sho-ws  and  representations  of  the  lesser  myste- 
ries ;  at  the  conclusion  of  which  the  oflBce  of  female  hierophant  ends,  if  we  can  judge  by 
the  duty  imposed  upon  the  sibyl  by  "Virgil,  as  will  appear  further  on.— Edit. 

f  The  bee,  or  rather  bee-hive,  among  the  masonic  symbols,  is  considered  an  emblem 
of  industry:  for  which  there  is  probably  some  authority  in  antiquity.— Edit, 


148  A    DISSERTATION    O^ 

assured.  A  golden  bough  Avas  literally  part  of  the  sacred  equipage  in 
the  shows  of  "the  mysteries.  For,  the  branch  which  was  sometimes 
wreathed  into  a  crown,  and  worn  o?i  the  h^ad,  was,  ^t  other  times,  car- 
ried in  the  hand.  Clemens  Alexandrinus  tells  us,  from  Dionysius  Thrax 
the  grammarian,  that  it  was  an  Egyptian  custom  to  hold  a  branch  in 
the  act  of  adoration.  And  of  what  kind  these  branches  were,  Apuleius 
tells  us,  in  his  description  of  a  procession  of  the  initiated  in  the  mys- 
teries of  Isis  :  "  A  third  advanced  bearing  a  palm  branch  of  thin  guilt 
leaves,  and  also  the  Mecurial  Caduceus."  The  golden  branch,  then, 
and  the  caducous  were  related.  And  accordingly  Virgil  makes  the 
former  do  the  usual  ofHce  of  the. latter,  in  affording  a  free  passage  into 
the  regions  of  the  dead.  Again,  Apuleius,  describing  the  fifth  person 
in  the  procession,  says,  "  A  fifth  (bearing)  a  golden  van  full  of  golden 
boughs."  So  that  a  golden  bough,  we  see,  was  an  important  imple- 
ment, and  of  a  very  complicated  intention  in  the  shows  of  the  mysteries. 

Eneas  having  now  possessed  himself  of  the  golden  bough,  a  pass- 
port as  necessary  to  his  descent  as  a  myrtle  crown  to  inhiation. 

He  is  then  led  to  the  opening  of  the  descent : 

"  Here  stood  a  cave  profound  and  hideous,  with  a  wide  yawning 
mouth,  stony,  fenced  by  a  black  lake  and  gloomy  woods." 

And  his  reception  is  thus  described : 

"  The  ground  beneath  their  feet  began  to  rumble,  the  mountain  tops 
to  quake,  and  dogs  were  seen  to  howl  through  the  shade  of  the  woods 
at  the  approach  of  the  goddess." 

How  similar  is  all  this  to  the  fine  description  of  the  poet  Claudian^ 
where,  professedly  and  without  disguise,  he  speaks  of  the  tremendous 
entry  into  these  mystic  rites  : 

"  Now  I  see  the  shrines  shake  upon  their  tottering  bases,  and  light- 
nings, announcing  the  deity's  approach,  'shed  a  vivid  glare  around- 
Now  a  loud  warring  is  heard  from  the  depths  of  the  earth,  and  the 
Cecropian  temple  re-echoes;  and  Eleusis  raises  her  holy  torches;  the 
snakes  of  Triptolemus  hiss,  and  lift  their  scaly  necks  rubbed  by  their 
curved  yokes.  So  afar,  the  three-fold  Hecate  bursts  forth." — (De  raptu 
Proserpinae.) 

Both  these  descriptions  agree  exactly  with  the  relations  of  the 
ancient  Greek  writers  on  this  subject.  Dion  Crysostom,  speaking  of 
initiation  into  the  mysteries,  gives  us  this  general  idea  of  it:  "Just  so  it 
is,  as  when  one  leads  a  Greek  or  barbarian  to  be  initiated  in  a  certain 
rnystic   dome,   excelling  in  beauty  and  magnificence;  where  he  sees 


TUB    ANCIENT    MYSTERIES.  140 

many  mystic  sights,  and  hears  in  the  same  manner  a  multitude  of  voices  ; 
where  darkness  and  light  alternately  aflect  his  senses ;  and  a  thousand 
other  uncommon  things  present  themselves  before  him. 


"  The  ritual  of  initiation  was  read  aloud,  and  hymns  were  sung  in  honor  of  Ceres. — 
Soon  after  a  hollow  sound  was  heard,  and  the  earth  seemed  to  groan  beneath  our  feet : 
we  heard  thunder ;  and  perceived  by  the  glare  of  the  lightning,  phantoms  and  specters 
wandering  in  darkness,  and  filling  the  holy  places  with  bowlings  that  chilled  us  with 
terror,  and  groans  that  rent  our  hearts."— (Travels  of  Anacharsis.) 

"  This  happy  moment  (de  I'autopsia)  was  introduced,  says  Dupuis,  by  frightful  scenes, 
by  alternate  fear  and  joy,  by  hght  and  darkness,  by  the  glimmerings  of  hght,  by  the 
terrible  noise  of  thunder,  which  was  imitated,  and  by  the  apparitions  of  specters,  of 
magical  illusions,  which  struck  the  eyes  and  ears  all  at  once."  (See  Moore's  Epicurean, ) 

De  Puuw,  in  his  Philosophical  Dissertation  on  the  Egyptian  and  Chinese,  observes 
"  Were  it  true,  as  some  have  pretended,  that  certain  mysteries  were  celebrated  in  apart! 
ments  of  the  labyrinth,  it  would  not  have  been  difficult  to  produce  noise  there  as  violent 
as  thunder.  Phny  assures  us,  that  the  re-percussion  of  the  air  in  that  edifice,  merely  on 
opening  the  doors,  which  probably  acting  as  suckers  caused  others  to  shut.  According  to 
the  common  report  thunder  was  irriitated  in  Greece,  by  rolling  stones  in  vessels  of  cop- 
per. The  initiated  were  to  be  terrified,  and  this  was  doneeflectuallyin  the  mysteries  of 
Mithra."     (Vol-.  1.  p.  305.) 

If  Virgil  copied  solely  from  initiations  in  the  Eleusinian  mysteries,  the  temples  of 
Ceres  would  seem  to  have  been  constructed  on  a  plan  similar  to  that  of  the  Egyptian 
labyrinth ;  for  in  the  sixth  book  of  the  Eneid,  v.  126,  arc  the  folio  wmg  hnes  : 

Now,  with  a  furious  blast,  the  hundred  doors 
Ope  of  themselves ;  a  rushing  wirl wind  roars 
Within  the  cave,  and  Sibyl's  voice  restores. 

Similar  delusions  are  practised  in  royal  arch  masonry,  where  tltunder  is  imitated  by 
rolling  cannon  balls,  etc. 


The  poet  next  relates  the  fanatic  agitation  of  the  mystagogue,  on  this 
occasion. 

*'  Procul,  O  procul,  este,  profani,  etc.  Hence,  far  hence,  O  ye  profane, 
exclaims  the  prophetess,  and  begone  from  all  the  grove.*  This  said, 
she  furiously  plunged  into  the  open  cave." 

So  again,  Claudian,  where  he  counterfeits,  in  his  own  person,  the 
raptures  and  astonishment  of  the  initiated,  and  throws  himself,  as  it  were, 
like  the  sibyl,  in  the  middle  of  the  scene. 

"  Away,  ye  profane, — now  fury  has  expelled  human  feelings  from 
my  breast."  The  affectation  of  fury  or  madness,  as  we  are  told  by 
Strabo,  (lib.  x.)  was  an  inseparable  circumstance  of  the  mysteries. 

The  procul,  O  procul  este,  profani   of  the  sibyl,  is  a  literal  transla- 

♦  When  about  to  openachaptcr  of  royal  arch  masons,  the  high  priest  says,  "If  there 
be  any  person  present,  who  is  not  a  royal  arch  mason,  he  is  requested  to  retire."  Ber- 
nard. Edit. 


150  A    DISSERTATION    OS 

tion  of  the  formula  used  by  the  mystagogue,  at  the  opening  of  the  mys- 
teries : 

Ekas,  ekas  este,  bebeloi. 

But  now  the  poet,  intending  to  accompany  his  he^-o  through  all  the 
mysterious  rites  of  his  initiation,  and  conscious  of  the  imputed  impiety 
in  bringing  them  out  to  open  day,  stops  short  in  his  narration,  and  breaks 
out  into  this  solemn  apology. 

Dii,  quibus  in  imperium  est  animarum,  etc. 

•*  Ye  goes,  to  whom  the  empire  of  ghosts  belongs,  and  ye  silent 
shades,  and  Chaos,  and  Phlegethon,  places  where  silence  reigns  around 
in  the  realms  of  night !  permit  me  to  utter  the  secrets  I  have  heard  ; 
may  I  have  your  divine  permission  to  disclose  things  buried  in  deep 
earth  and  darkness." 

Claudian,  who,  as  we  have  observed,  professes  openly  to  treat  of  the 
Eleusinian  mysteries,  at  a  time  when  they  were  in  little  veneration :  yet, 
in  compliance  to  old  custom,  excuses  his  undertaking  in  the  same  manor : 

Dii,  quibus  in  numerum,  etc. 

Had  the  revealing  the  mysteries  been  as  penal  at  Rome,  as  it  was  in 
Greece,  Virgil  had  never  ventured  on  this  part  of  his  poem.  But  yet 
it  was  esteemed  impious. 

He  therefore  does  it  covertly ;  and  makes  this  apology  to  such  as 
saw  into  his  meaning. 

The  hero  and  his  guide  now  enter  on  their  journey : 

"  They  advanced  under  the  solitary  night  through  the  shade,  and 
through  the  desolate  halls  and  empty  realms  of  Pluto  ;  their  progress 
resembling  a  journey  in  woods  by  the  precarious  glimmering  moon 
under  a  faint  malignant  light,  when  Jupiter  hath  wrapped  up  the  heavens 
in  shade,  and  sable  night  hath  stripped  objects  of  color." 

This  description  will  receive  much  light  from  a  passage  in  Lucian's 
dialogue  of  the  tyrant.  As  a  company  made  up  of  every  condition  of 
life,  are  voyaging  together  to  the  other  world,  Mycillus  breaks 
out,  and  says :  "  Bless  us  !  how  dark  it  is !  where  is  the  fair  Megillus  ? 
who  can  tell  in  this  situation,  whether  Simmiche  or  Phryna  be  the 
handsomer  ?  every  thing  is  alike,  and  of  the  same  color;  there  is  no 
room  for  rivalling  of  beauties.  My  old  cloak,  which  but  now  presented 
to  your  eyes  so  irregular  a  figure,  is  become  as  honorable  a  garb  as  his 
majesty's  purple.      They   are,   indeed,  both   vanished,*  and   retired 


*  The  original  has  a  peculiar  elegance.  Haphane  gar  ampho,  etc.  alludes  to  the  ancient 
Greek  notions  concerning  the  first  matter,  which  they  called  aphanes,  invisible,  as 
being  without  the  qualities  of  form  and  color.  The  investing  matter  with  these  qualities, 


THE    ANCIENT    MYSTERIES.  '        151 

together  under  the  same  cover.  *  But  my  friend,  the  Cynic,  where  are 
you  ?  give  me  your  hand  :  ,  you  arc  initiated  in  the  Eleusinian  mys- 
teries. Tell  me  now,  do  you  not  think  this  very  like  the  blind  march  they 
make  there  ?  Oh  extremely  :  and  see,  here  comes  one  of  the  Furies  as  I 
guess  by  her  equipage  ;  her  torch,  and  her  terrible  looksJ^ 

The  Sibyl,  on  their  approach  to  the  mouth  of  the  cave,  had  advised 
Eneas  to  call  up  all  his  courage,  as  being  to  undergo  the  serverest 
trials. 

"  Do  you,  Eneas,  boldly  march  forward,  and  snatch  your  sword 
from  its  sheath ;  now  is  the  time  for  fortitude,  now  for  firmness  of  reso- 
lution." 

These  trials  were  of  two  sorts :  the  encountering  real  labors  and 
difficulties ;  and  the  being  exposed  to  imaginary  and  false  terrors. 
This  latter  was  submitted  to  by  all  the  initiated  in  general;  the  other 
was  reserved  for  chiefs  and  leaders.  On  which  account,  Virgil 
describes  them  both  in  their  order  ;  as  they  were  both  to  be  undergone 
by  his  hero.     The  first  in  these  words, — 

"  Before  the  very  courts  and  in  the  opening  jaws  of  hell,  grief  and 
tormenting  cares  have  fixed  their  couches;  and  pale  diseases,  repining 
age,  fear,  and  famine,  forms  terrible  to  view,  (terribiles  visuformse)  and 
death  and  toil ;  then  sleep  that  is  akin  to  death,  and  criminal  joys  of 
the  mind ;  and  in  the  opposite  threshold  murderous  war,  the  iron  bed 
chambers  of  the  furies,  and  frantic  discord." 

To  understand  the  force  of  this  description,  it  will  be  necessary  to 
transcribe  the  account  the  ancients  have  leil  us  of  the  probationary 
trials  in  the  mysteries  of  Mithras,  whose  participation  was  more  par- 
ticularly aspired  to,  by  chiefs  and  leaders  of  armies ;  whence  those 
initiated  were  commonly  called  the  soldiers  of  Mithras.  "  No  one," 
says  Nonnus,  "  could  be  initiated  into  these  mysteries  till  he  had  passed 
gradually  through  the  probationary  labors,  by  which  he  was  to  acquire 
a  certain  apathe  and  sanctity.  There  were  eighty  degrees  of  these 
labors,  from  less  to  greater  ;  and  when  the  aspirant  has  gone  through 
them  all,  he  is  initiated.  These  labors  are, — to  pass  through  fire,  to 
endure  cold,  hunger,  and  thirst,  to  undergo  much  journeyings  ;  and, 
in  a  word,  every;  toil  of  this  nature." 

was  the  production  of  bodies,  the  ta  Phainomena:  their  dissolution,  a  return  to  a  state 
pf  invisibihty. — eis  Haihanes  chorei  ta  diaiuomena,  as  the  pretended  Merc. 
Trismas',  has  it,  cap.  xi.  Matter,  in  this  state  of  invisibihty,  was,  by  the  earher  Greeks, 
called  Hades.  Afterwards,  the  state  itself  was  so  called ;  and  at  length  it  came  to  sig- 
nify the  abode  of  departed' spirits:  hence  some  of  the  Orphic  odes,  which  were  sung  in 
the  mysteries,  bore  the  title  of  e  eis  Adoy  Katabasis,  a  descent  into  the  regions  ofthe 
4ead,  a  little  equivalent  to  Teaetai  and  Hieros  Logos. 


152  A    DISSERTATION    ON 

They  exercised  the  candidates,  snys  Dupuis,  in  his  Recherches  sur  les  Initiations, 
many  days,  to  cross  by  awimming,  a  large.extent  of  water  ;  they  threw  them  into  it, 
and  it  was  with  great  (hfficulty  that  tliey  extricated  themselves.  They  applied  a  sword 
and  fire  to  their  bodies  :  they  made  them  pass  over  flames.  The  aspirants  were  often 
in  considerable  danger,  and  Pythagoras,  we  are  told,  nearly  lost  his  life  in  the  trials. 

In  tracing  the  early  connections  of  spectacles  with  the  ceremonies  of'religion,  Voltaire 
says,  "  The  truly  grand  tragedies,  the  imposing  and  temble  representations,  were  the 
sacred  mysteries,  which  were  celebrated  in  the  greatest  temples  in  the  world,  in  pre- 
sence of  the  initiated  only  ;  it  was  there  that  the  habits,  the  decorations,  the  machinery 
were  proper  to  the  subject,  and  the  subject  was  the  present  and  future  life." — Ibid. 

Volney,  shows  the  origin  of  these  ceremonies.  "  The  Egyptians,  says  Porphery, 
employ  every  year  a  talisman  in  remembrance  of  the  world  ;  at  the  summer  solstice, 
they  mark  their  houses,  flocks,  and  trees  v^th  red,  supposing  that  on  that  day  the  whole 
world  had  been  set  on  fire.  It  was  also  at  the  same  period  that  they  celebrated  the 
pyrrhic  or  fire  dance."  And  this  illustrates  the  origin  of  purification  by  fire  and  water, 
for  having  denominated  the  tropic  of  cancer,  gate  of  heaven  and  of  heat  or  celestia 
fire,  and  that  of  Capricorn,  gate  of  deluge  or  of  water,  it  was  imagined  that  the  spu-its 
or  souls  who  passed  through  these  gates  in  their  way  to  and  from  heaven,  were  scorched 
or  bathed  ;  hence  the  baptism  of  Mithra,  and  the  passage  through  tlie  flames,  observed 
throughout  the  east  long  before  Moses.    Ruins,  p.  238. 

Ancient  masonry  has  slightly  imitated  these  trials,  particularly  in  the  third  and  roya^ 
arch  degrees.  The  Druids  who  established  it,  were,  perhaps,  fearful  that  by  carrying 
the  joke  too  far,  their  practices  might  come  to  the  knowledge  of  the  government, 
which  would  probably  have  led  to  the  destruction  of  the  order.  For,  form  en,  whose 
professed  object  was  merely  to  teach  the  mechanical  art  of  masonry,  to  be  engaged  in 
the  performance  of  such  extravagances  as  were  practised  in  the  ancient  mysteries,  would 
certainly  have  alarmed  even  the  initiated  themselves ;  a  great  portion  of  whom,  who  were 
carried  no  farther  than  the  third  degree,  doubtless  retained  their  attachment  to  the 
Christian  religion.  They  knew  not  what  was  meant  by  the  ceremonies  ;  they  were 
pleased,  however,  with  the  shows. 

But  the  inventors  of  modern  degrees  of  the  order,  without  any  regard  to  religion, 
keeping,  however,  for  the  most  part,  within  the  pale  of  Christianity,  have  indulged  their 
imaginations  to  an  unbounded  extent.  They  could  have  been  influenced  by  no  other 
motives  than  the  pleasure  of  exercising  their  wit  in  experiments  upon  human  credulity- 
The  following  specimens  will  show  that  the  ancient  models  have  served  as  the 
ground  work  upon  which  the  new  superstructure  has  been  reared  ;  which,  by  the  by, 
already  extends  fifty  stories  above  the  old  fabric. 

In  the  degree,  called  Chevalier  de  1'  Orient,  or  knight  of  the  East,  the  master  says 
to  the  junior  general,  cause  Zerubbabel  to  undergo  the  seventy  trials,  which  I  reduce  to 
three,  namely,  first  that  of  the  body  ;  second,'  that  of  his  courage  ;  third,  that  of  his 
mind.  After  which,  perhaps,  he  may  merit  the  favor  which  he  demands. — {Bernard.) 
The  following  .is  taken  from  the  Abbe  Barruel,  but  whose  book,  being  replete, 
with  falsehoods  against  masonry,  renders  the  account  justly  entitled  to  suspicion.  It 
relates  to  initiations  in  the  degree  of  Knight  of  Kadosh,  or  as  (he  says)  the  regenerated 
Man." 

"  Adepts  have  told  me,  that,  no  physical  art  is  spared  ;  that  there  is  no  machinery, 
specters,  terrors,  etc.  which  are  not  employed,  to  try  the  constancy  of  the  candidate. 
We  are  told  by  Mr.  Monjoy,  that  the  duke  of  Orleans  was  obliged  to  ascend,  and  then 
throw  himself  ofTa  ladder.  A  deep  cave,  or  rather  precipice,  whence  a  narrow  tower 
rises  to  the  summit  of  the  lodge,  having  no  avenue  to  it  but  by  subterraneous  passages 


THB    ANCIENT    MYSTERIBS.  165 

replete  with  horror,  i&  the  place  where  the  candidnto  is  abandoned  to  himself,  tied  hand 
and  foot.  In  this  situation  he  finds  himself  raised  from  the  ground  Ify  machines  Inaking 
the  most  frightful  noise.  He  slowly  ascends  this  dark  vault,  and  then  suddenly  falls, 
as  if  he  were  not  supported  by  any  thing.  Thus  mounting  and  falUng  alternately 
he  must  carefully  avoid  showing  any  sign  of  fear," 

Perhaps,  on  account  of  the  high  rank  of  the  duke  of  Orleans,  he  was  thought  enti- 
tled to  greater  perils  and  trials  than  common  men.  Bernard  gives  this  degree,  and, 
although  a  ladder  is  required  to  be  ascended,  and  the  candidate  is  prohibited  to  return 
the  same  way,  yet  no  such  hazards  as  here  related,  are  spoken  of. 

The  description  of  the  ceremonies  in  the  degree  of  kniglUa  of  the  White  Eagle  or 
Pelican^  as  reported  to  Carlile,  exceeds,  in  terrors  and  awfulness,  even  Barruel's 
account  of  those  in  the  knight  of  Kadosh.  It  must  have  been  got  up  by  persons  inti- 
mately acquainted  with  the  practices  of  the  holy  IiKfuiaition,  particularly  in  regard  to 
Auto-da-fe»*    I  will  give  a  short  extract  from  it. 

Second  Point  of  ReGeption. 

The  apartment  for  the  preparation,  and  for  this  reception,  is  made  as  terifying  as 
possible,  to  resemble  the  torments  of  hell.  It  has  seven  chandeliers,  with  grey  burning 
flambeaus,  whoso  mouths  represent  death's  heads  with  cross  bones.  The  walls  arc 
hung  with  tapestry,  painted  with  flames  and  figures  of  the  damned. 

The  door  is  opened  by  a  brother  appointed  to  guard  it,  to  whdm  eaeh  gives  the  report 
of  a  perfect  mason  and  the  pass  word  Emanuel.  The  candidate  is  instructed  to  say, 
"  I  am  one  of  the  brothers,  who  seek  the  word  lost,  by  the  aid  of  the  new  law,  and  the 
three  columns  of  masonry."  At  these  words,  the  guard  takes  his  sash  and  apron  from 
him,  saying  these  marks  of  decoration  are  not  humble  enough  to  qualify  him  to  find  it, 
and  that  he  must  pass  through  much  more  vigorous  trials.  He  then  covers  him  with 
a  black  cloth,  so  that  ho  can  see  nothing,  telling  him  that  he  must  be  conducted  to  the 
darkest  of  places,  from  which  the  word  must  come  forth  triumphant,  to  thie  glory  of 
masonry,  and  that  he  must  abandon  all  self-confidence.  In  this  condition,  he  is  con- 
ducted into  an  apartment,  in  which  there  is  a  steep  descent,  up  and  down  which  ho  is 
directed  to  travel.  After  which,  he  is  conducted  to  the  door,  and  the  black  cloth  is 
removed.  Before  him  stand  three  figures  dressed  as  devils.  He  is  then  ordered  to 
parade  the  room  three  times,  in  memory  of  the  mysterious  descent  into  the  dark  placesi 
which  lasted  three  days.  He  is  then  led  to  the  door  of  the  apartment,  covered  with  the 
black  cloth,  and  told,  that  the  horrors  through  which  he  has  passed  are  as  nothing,  in 
comparison  with  those  through  which  he  has  to  pass :  therefore  he  is  cautioned  to  summon 
all  his  fortitude,  to  meet  the  dreadful  scene.  After  farther  mancEUvering  of  this  sort,  the 
candidate  is  reported  to  the  master,  by  the  deacon,  as  a  knight  of  the  Eagle,  who,  after 
penetrating  the  deepest  places,  hopes  to  procure  the  lost  word,  as  the  fruit  of  his  research 
and  to  become  a  perfect  mason,  etc. 

On  turning  to  Bernard's  description  of  this  degree,  I  find  he  agrees  in  substance  with 
Carlile.  He  says,  "  On  the  hangings  of  the  third  apartment  must  be  represented,  irt 
transparent  paintings,  all  the  horrors  which  we  attach  to  the  idea  of  hell ;  such  as 
human  figures  and  monsters  with  convulsed  muscles,  engulfed  in  flames,  etc.  etc.  On 
each  side  of  the  door  is  a  human  skeleton,  with  an  arrow  in  his  hand,  etc." 

Virgil  has  made  the  sufferings  in  the  other  world,  preparatory  to  admission  into 
Elysium,  as  related  by  Anchises  to  Eneas,  to  correspond  with  the  trials  to  which  candi* 
diates  were  subjected  in  the  mysteries.  Bishop  Warburton  refers  to  that  part  oi  the 
poem  which  describes  the  nature  and  end  of  purgatory,  but  does  not  quote  the 
passage. 

20 


154  AN    EXAMINATION    OF    THE 

Anchises,  says:— "Even  when  with  the  last  beams  of  light  their  life  is  gone,  yet 
not  every  ill,  nor  all  corporeal  stains,  are  quite  removed  from  the  unhappy  beings, 
and  it  is  absolutely  unavoidable  that  many  vicious  habits,  which  have  long  grown 
up  with  the  soul,  should  be  strangely  confirmed  and  riveted  therein.  Therefore  are 
they  afflicted  with  pains,  and  pay  the  penalties  of  their  former  ills.  Some,  hung  on 
high,  are  spread  out  to  whiten  in  the  empty  winds :  in  others  the  guilt  not  done  away 
is  washed  out  in  a  vast  watery  abyss,  or  burned  away  in  fire.  We  have  each  of  us  a 
Demon,  from  whom  we  suffer,  till  length  of  time,  after  the  fixed  period  is  elapsed, 
hath  done  away  the  inherent  stains,  and  hath  left  celestial  reason  pure  from  all  irreg- 
ular passions,  and  the  souZ  that  spark  of  heavenly  Jire,  in  its  original  purity  and  bright- 
ness, simple  and  unmixed  :  then  are  we  conveyed  into  Elysium,  and  we,  who  are  tho 
happy  few,  possess  the  fields  of  bliss."— (/Davidson's  Trans.) 


The  second  sort  of  trial  were  the  imaginary  terrors  of  the  myste- 
ries ;  and  these,  Virgil  describes  next.  And  to  distinguish  them  from 
the  real  labors  preceding,  he  separates  the  two  accounts  by  that  fine 
circumstance  of  the  tree  of  dreams  which  introduces  the  latter. 

"  In  the  midst  a  gloomy  elm  displays  its  boughs  and  aged  arms  ; 
which  seat  vain  dreams  are  said  to  haunt,  and  under  every  leaf  they 
dwell.  Besides  many  monstrous  spectres  of  various  forms  ;  in  the 
gate  Centaurs,  and  double-formed  Scylas,  Briareus  with  his  hundred 
hands,  and  the  enormous  snake  of  Lerna  hissing  dreadful,  and  Chi- 
msera  armed  with  flames  ;  Gorgons,  Harpes  and  the  form  of  Geryon's 
three-bodied  ghost." 

These  terribiles  visu  formse  are  the  same  which  Pleiho,  in  the  place 
quoted  above,  calls  allokota  tas  morphas  phasmaia,  as  seen  in  the 
entrance  of  the  mysteries  ;  and  which  Celsus  tells  us,  were  likewise 
presented  in  the  Bacchic  rites. 

But  it  is  reasonable  to  suppose,  that  though  these  things  had  the 
use  here  assigned  to  them,  it  was  some  circumstance  in  the  recondite 
physiology  of  tho  East,  which  preferred  them  to  this  station.  We  are 
to  consider  then  this  dark  entrance  into  the  mysteries,  as  a  representa- 
tion of  the  Chaos,  thus  characterised. 

"  They  advanced  under  the  solitary  night  through  the  desolate  halls 
and  empty  realms  of  Pluto." 

And  amongst  the  several  powers  invoked  by  the  poet,  at  his  entrance 
on  this  scene,  Chaos  is  one. 

Now  a  fragment  of  Berosus,  preserved  by  George  Syncellus 
describes  the  ancient  Chaos,  according  to  the  physiology  of  the  Chal- 
deans, in  this  manner : — "  There  was  a  time,  they  say,  when  all  was 
water  and  darkness.   And  these  gave  birth  and  habitation  to  monstrous 


155 

animals  of  mixed  forms  and  species.  For  there  were  men  with 
two  wings,  others  with  four,  and  some  again  with  double  faces. 
Some  had  the  horns  of  goats,  some  their  legs,  and  some  tlie  legs  of 
horses;  others  had  the  hind-parts  of  horses,  and  the  fore-parts  of  men, 
like  the  hippocentaurs.  There  were  bulls  with  human  heads,  dogs 
with  four  bodies  ending  in  fishes,  horses  with  dogs  heads ;  and  men, 
and  other  creatures  with  the  heads  and  bodies  of  horses,  and  with  the 
tails  of  fishes.  And  a  number  of  animals,  whose  bodies  were  a  mon- 
strous compound  of  the  dissimilar  parts  of  beasts  of  various  kinds. 
Together  with  these,  were  fishes,  reptiles,  serpents,  and  other  creatures, 
which,  by  a  reciprocal  translation  of  the  parts  to  one  another,  became 
all  portentously  deformed  :  the  pictures  and  representations  of  which 
were  hung  up  in  the  temple  of  Belus.  A  woman  ruled  over  the  whole 
whose  name  was  Omoroca,  in  the  Chaldee  tongue  Thalath,  which  sig- 
nifies the  sea  ;  and,  in  the  course  of  connexion,  the  moon.'*  This 
account  seems  to  have  been  exactly  copied  in  the  mysteries,  as  appears 
from  the  description  of  the  poet. 

The  canine  figures  have  a  considerable  station  in  this  region  of 
monsters  :  And  he  tells  us,  "  And  dogs  were  seen  to  howl  through 
the  shade  of  the  woods,"  which  Pletho  explains  in  his  scholia  on  the 
magic  oracles  of  Zoroaster.  '*  It  is  the  custom,  in  the  celebration  of 
the  mysteries,  to  present  before  many  of  the  initiated,  phantasms  of  a 
canine  figure,  and  other  monstrous  shapes  and  appearances." 

The  woman,  whose  name  coincides  with  that  of  the  moon,  was  the 
Hecate  of  the  Greeks,  who  is  invoked  by  Eneas  on  this  occasion. 

"  By  mistic  sounds  invoking  Hecate,  powerful  both  in  heaven  and 
hell."     Hence  terrifying  visions  were  called  Hecatea. 

The  ancients  called  Hecate,  diva  triformis.  And  Scaliger  observes 
that  the  word  thalath,  which  Syncellus,  or  Berosus,  says,  was  equiva- 
lent to  the  moon,  signifies  tria. 

And  now  we  soon  find  the  hero  in  a  fright,  "  Here  Eneas,  discon- 
certed with  sudden  fear,  grasps  his  sword,  and  presents  the  naked  point 
to  each  approaching  shade." 

With  these  afl^ections  the  ancients  represent  the  initiated  as  posses- 
sed on  his  first  entrance  into  these  holy  rites.  "  Entering  now  into  the 
mystic  dome  (says  Themistius)  he  is  filled  with  horror  and  amazement. 
He  is  seized  with  solicitude,  and  a  total  perplexity  ;  he  is  unable  to 
move  a  step  forward,  and  at  a  loss  to  find  the  entrance  to  that  road 
which  is  to  lead  him  to  the  place  he  aspires  to — till  the  prophet  or 
conductor,  laying  open  the  vestibule  of  the  temple" — To  the  same  pur- 


156  AN    EXAMINATION    OF    THE 

pose  PfdcIus  ;  "  As  in  the  most  holy  mysteries,  before  the  scene  of  the 
mystic  visions,  there  is  a  terror  infused  over  the  minds  of  the  initiated, 
so,"  etc. 

The  adventurers  come  now  to  the  banks  of  Cocytus.  Eneas  is  sur- 
prized at  the  crowd  of  ghosts  which  hover  round  it,  and  appear  impa- 
tient for  a  passage.  His  guide  tells  him  they  are  those  who  have  not 
had  the  rites  of  sepulture  performed  to  their  manes,  and  so  are  doomed 
to  wander  up  and  down  for  a  hundred  years,  before  they  be  permitted  to 
cross  the  river. 

We  are  not  to  think  this  old  notion  took  its  rise  from  the  vulgar  super- 
stition. It  was  one  of  the  wisest  contrivances  of  ancient  politics ;  and 
came  originally  from  Egypt,  the  fountain-head  of  legislation.  Those 
profound  masters  of  wisdom,  in  projecting  for  the  common  good,  found 
nothing  would  more  contribute  to  the  safety  of  their  fellow  citizens  than 
the  public  and  solemn  interment  of  the  dead ;  as  without  this  provision, 
private  murders  might  be  easily  and  securely  committed.  They  there- 
fore introduced  the  custom  of  pompous  funeral  rites  ;  and,  as  Herodo- 
tus and  Diodorus  tell  us,  were  of  all  people  the  most  circumstantially 
ceremonious  in  the  observance  of  them.  To  secure  these  by  the  force 
of  religion,  as  well  as  civil  custom,  they  taught,  that  the  deceased  could 
not  retire  to  a  place  of  rest,  till  they  were  performed.  The  notion  spread 
so  wide,  and  fixed  its  roots  so  deep  that  the  substance  of  the  supersti- 
tion remains,  even  to  this  day,  in  most  civilized  countries.  By  so  effec- 
tual a  method  did  the  legislature  gain  its  end,  the  security  of  the  citizen. 
Mr.  Bayle  cries  out,  "  What  injustice  is  this  !  was  it  the  fault  of 
these  souls,  that  their  bodies  were  not  interred .?"  But  not  knowing  the 
origin  of  this  opinion,  nor  seeing  its  use,  he  ascribes  that  to  the  blind- 
ness of  religion,  which  was  the  issue  of  wise  policy. 

The  next  thing  observable  is  the  ferryman,  Charon ;  and  he,  the 
learned  well  know,  was  a  substantial  Egyptian  ;  and,  as  an  ingenious 
writer  says,  fairly  existing  in  this  world. — (BlackwelV  s  life  of  Homer.) 
The  case  was  plaiiily  thus  ;  the  Egyptians,  like  the  rest  of  mankind, 
is  their  descriptions  of  the  other  worlds  used  to  copy  from  something 
they  were  well  acquainted  with  in  this.  In  their  funeral  rites,  which, 
€U9  we  observed,  was  a  matter  of  greater  moment  with  them  than  with 
any  other  people,  they  used  to  carry  their  dead  over  the  Nile,  and 
through  the  marsh  of  Acherusia,  and  there  put  them  into  subterrane- 
ous caverns ;  the  ferryman  employed  in  this  business  being,  in  their 
language,  called  Charon.  Now  in  their  mysteries,  the  description  of 
the  passage  into  the  other  world  was  borrowed,  as  was  natural,  from 


SIXTH  BOOK    OF    VIROlL*6    ENEID.  167 

the  circumstances  of  their  funeral  rites.  And  it  might  be  easily  proved, 
if  there  were  occasion,  that  they,  themselves  transferred  these  realities 
into  the  mythos,  and  not  the  Greeks,  as  later  writers  generally  imagine. 
Eneas  having  crossed  the  river,  and  come  into  the  proper  regions 
of  the  dead,  the  first  apparition  that  occurs  is  the  dog  Cerberus  ;  "  Huge 
Cerberus  makes  those  realms  resound  with  barking  from  his  triple  jaws, 
stretched  at  his  enormous  length  in  a  den  that  fronts  the  gate." 

This  is  plainly  one  of  the  phantoms  of  the  mysteries,  which  Pletho 
tells  above,  was  in  the  shape  of  a  dog  kunode  tina.  And  in  the  fable 
of  Hercules's  descent  into  hell,  which,  we  have  shown,  signified  no 
more  than  his  initiation  into  the  mysteries,  it  is  said  to  have  been, 
amongst  other  things,  for  fetching  up  the  dog  Cerberus. 

The  prophetess,  to  appease  his  rage,  gives  him  a  medicated  cake, 
which  casts  him  into  a  slumber  ;  "  Flings  to  him  a  soporific  cake  of 
honey  and  medicated  grains" — (medicatis  frugibus.) 

In  the  mysteries  of  Trophonius  (who  was  said  to  be  nursed  by 
Ceres,  that  is  to  derive  his  rites  from  the  Eleusinian,)  the  initiated  car- 
ried the  same  fort  of  medicated  cakes  to  appease  the  serpents  he  met 
with  in  his  passage.  Tertullian,  who  gives  all  mysteries  to  the  devil, 
and  makes  him  the  author  of  what  is  done  there,  mentions  the  offering 
up  of  these  cakes,  celebrat  et  panis  oblationem.  This  in  question  was 
of  poppy-seed,  made  up  with  honey  ;  and  so  I  understand  medicatis 
frugibus,  here,  on  the  authority  of  the  poet  himself,  who,  in  the  fourth 
book,  makes  the  priestess  of  Venus  prepare  the  same  treat  for  the  dra- 
gon who  guarded  the  Hesperian  fruit. 

But  without  doubt,  the  images,  which  the  juice  of  poppy  presents  to 
the  fancy,  was  one  reason  why  this  drug  had  a  place  in  the  ceremonial 
of  the  shows ;  not  improbably,  it  was  given  to  some  at  least  of  the  ini- 
tiated, to  aid  the  impression  of  those  mystic  visions  which  passed  before 
them.*  For  that  something  like  this  was  done,  that  is,  giving  medica- 
ted drugs  to  the  aspirants,  we  are  informed  by  Plutarch  ;  who  speaks  of 
a  shrub  called  Leucophyllus  used  in  the  celebration  of  the  mysteries 
of  Hecate,  which  drives  men  into  a  kind  of  frenzy,  and  makes  them 
confess  all  the  wickedness  they  had  done  or  intended.  And  confession 
was  one  necessary  preparative  for  initiation.! 

♦  This  practice  obtains  in  a  modern  degree  of  masonry,  denominated  Le  Petit 
Architect.  A  potion  is  given  to  the  candidate,  which,  he  is  told  is  a  part  of  the  heart 
of  master  Hiram^  preserved  ever  since  his  assassination  ;  which  every  faithful  mason 
may  receive,  but  that  it  cannot  remain  in  the  body  of  one  who  is  perjured.  After  fhe 
candidate  has  swallowed  the  dose,  the  master  thus  addresses  him,  brother,  one  thing 
you  came  here  to  learn  is,  that  you  ought  never  to  refuse  to  confess  your  faults  ;  obst^ 
nacy  ought  to  be  banished  from  the  heart  of  every  good  mason.— £7(/t/. 

t  What  were  called  the  secret  ceremonies  of  the  gods,  says  Fontenellc,  were  withcut 


158  AN    EXAMINATION    OF    THE 

The  regions,  according  to  Virgil's  geography,  are  divided  into 
three  parts,  Purgatory,  Tartarus,  and  Elysium. 

The  mysteries  divided  them  in  the  same  manner.  So  Plato,  where 
he  speaks  of  what  was  taught  in  the  mysteries,  talks  of  souls  sticking 
fast  in  mire  and  filth,  and  remaining  in  darkness,  till  a  long  series  of 
years  had  purged  and  purified  them ;  and  Cclsus,  in  Origen,  says,  that 
the  mysteries  taught  the  doctrine  of  eternal  punishments. 

Of  all  the  three  states  this  of  Tartarus,  only  was  eternal  There 
was,  indeed,  another,  in  the  ancient  pagan  theology,  which  had  the  same 
relation  to  Elysium,  that  Tartarus  had  to  Purgatory,  the  extreme  of 
reward,  as  Tartarus  of  punishment.  But  then  this  state  was  not  in  the 
infernal  regions,  but  in  Heaven.  Neither  was  it  the  lot  of  common  human- 
ity, but  reserved  for  heroes  and  daemons  ;  Beings,  of  an  order  superior 
to  men,  such  as  Hercules,  Bacchus,  etc.  who  became  Gods  on  their 
admission  into  that  state,  where  the  eternity  was  in  consequence  of 
their  deification. 

And  here  it  is  to  our  purpose  to  observe,  that  the  virtues  and  vices, 
which  stock  these  three  divisions,  with  inhabitants,  are  such  as  more 
immediately  affect  society.  A  plain  proof  that  the  poet  followed  the 
views  of  the  legislator,  the  institutor  of  the  mysteries. 

Purgatory,  the  first  division,  is  inhabited  by  suicides,  extravagant 
lovers,  and  ambitious  warriors :  and  in  a  word,  by  all  those  who  had 
indulged  the  violence  of  the  passions  ;  which  made  them  rather  miser- 
able than  wicked.  It  is  remarkable  that  amongst  these  we  find  one  of 
the  initiated  :  "  Polybetes  devoted  to  Ceres."  This  was  agreeable  to 
the  public  doctrine  of  the  mysteries,  which  taught  that  initiation  with 
virtue  procured  men  great  advantages  over  others,  in  a  future  state  ; 
but  that  without  virtue,  it  was  of  no  service. 

Of  all  these  disorders,  the  poet  hath  more  distinctly  marked  out  the 
misery  of  suicide. 

doubt  the  best  artifices  the  priests  could  invent  to  keep  people  in  the  dark  ;  and  yet 
they  could  not  so  well  hide  the  juggle,  but  that  the  cheat  would  be  suspected  by  many 
persons  :  and  therefore  they  contnved  among  themselves  to  establish  certain  mysteries 
which  should  engage  those  who  were  initiated  into  them  to  an  inviolable  secrecy.  Those 
who  were  initiated  also  gave  further  security  for  their  discretion  ;  for  they  were  obliged 
to  make  a  confession  to  their  priests  of  all  the  most  private  actions  of  their  lives  ;  so 
that  by  this  means  they  became  slaves  to  their  priests,  that  their  oitm  secrets  might  be 
kept. 

It  was  upon  this  sort  of  confession  that  a  Lacedemonian,  who  was  gjoing  to  be  ini- 
tiated into  the  mysteries  of  Samothrace,  spoke  roundly  thus  to  the  priest;  if  I  have 
committed  any  crimes,  surely  the  Gods  are  not  ignorant  of  them. 

Another  answered  almost  after  the  same  manner  ;  is  to  you  or  to  God  toe  ought  to 
confess  our  crimes  ?  It  is  to  God,  says  the  priest.  Well  then  retire  thou,  answered  the 
Lacedemonian,  and  Itoill  confess  them  to  God.  These  Lacedemonians  were  not  very 
full  of  the  spirit  of  devotion.— (flw/.  df  Oracles,  p.  114,  London,  16^).— Edit. 


SIXTH  BOOK  OF  viroil's  eneid.  159 

Here  he  keeps  close  to  the  mysteries ;  which  not  only  forbade  sui- 
cide, but  taught  on  what  account  it  was  criminal.  "  That  which  is  said 
in  the  mysteries  (says  Plato)  concerning  these  matters  of  man's  being 
placed  in  a  certain  watch  or  station,  which  it  is  unlawful  to  fly  from,  or 
forsake,  is  a  profound  doctrine,  and  not  easily  fathomed." — (Phged.  p. 
62.  Ser,  ed.  torn.  1.) 

Hitherto  all  goes  well.  But  what  must  we  say  to  the  poet's  putting 
new-born  infants,  and  men  falsely  condemned  into  his  purgatory?  For 
though  the  faith  and  inquisition  of  modern  Rome  send  many  of  both 
sorts  into  a  place  of  punishment,  yet  the  genius  of  ancient  paganism 
had  a  gentler  aspect.  It  is,  indeed,  difficult  to  tell  what  these  inmates 
have  to  do  here.  Let  us  consider  the  case  of  the  infants  ;  and  if  we 
find  it  can  only  be  cleared  up  by  the  general  view  of  things  here  offered, 
this  will  be  considered  as  another  argument  for  the  truth  of  our  inter- 
pretation. 

"  Forthwith  are  heard  voices,  loud  wailings,  and  weeping  ghosts  of 
infants,  mthe  first  opening  of  the  gate  :  whom,  bereaved  of  sweet  life  out 
of  the  course  of  nature,  and  snatched  from  the  breast,  in  a  black  unjoy- 
ous  day  cut  off]  and  buried  in  an  untimely  grave." 

These  appear  to  have  been  the  cries  and  lamentings  that,  Proclus 
tells  us,  were  heard  in  the  mysteries.  So  that  we  only  want  to  know 
the  original  of  so  extraordinary  a  circumstance.  Which,  I  take,  to 
have  been  just  such  another  provision  of  the  lawgiver  for  the  security 
of  infancy,  as  that  about  funeral  rites  was  for  the  adult.  For  nothing 
could  more  engage  parents  in  the  care  and  preservation  of  their  young, 
than  so  terrible  a  doctrine.  Nor  are  we  to  imagine,  that  their  natural 
fondness  needed  no  inforcement,  or  support ;  for  that  most  degenerate 
and  horrid  practice  among  the  ancients,  of  exposing  infants,  was  univer- 
sal ;*  and  had  almost  erased  morality  and  instinct.  St.  Paul  seems  to  have 
had  this  in  his  eye,  when  he  accused  the  pagan  world  of  being  without 
natural  affection.  It  needed  therefore  the  strongest  and  severest  check  j 
and  I  am  well  persuaded  it  occasioned  this  counterplot  of  the  magis- 
trate,  in   order  to   give   instinct  fair  play,   and  call  back  banished 

♦  We  may  well  judge  it  to  be  so,  when  we  find  it  amongst  the  Chinese  (see  M.  Polo 
lib.  ii.  cap.  26.)  and  the  Arabians,  the  two  people  least  corrupted  by  foreign  manners, 
and  the  vicious  customs  of  more  civilized  nations.  The  Arabians,  particularly,  living 
much  in  a  state  of  nature,  where  men's  wants  are  few,  and  consequently  where  there 
is  small  temptation  to  this  unnatural  crime,  yet  were  become  so  prone  to  it,  that  their 
lawgiver  Mahomet  found  it  necessary  to  exact  an  oath  of  the  Arabian  women,  not  to 
destroy  their  children.  The  form  of  this  oath  is  given  us  by  Gagnier,  in  his  notes  on 
Abel-feda's  Life  of  Mahomet,  and  it  is  in  these  words  ;— "  You  will  associate  nothing 
with  God  ;  nor  indulge  anger ;  nor  destroy  your  children  ;  nor  be  disobedient  to  the 
Apoatlc  of  God,  in  that  which  is  just." 


160  AN    EXAMINATION    OF    THE 

nature.  Nothing,  indeed,  could  be  more  worthy  of  his  care  :  for 
the  destruction  of  children,  as  Pericles  finely  observed  of  youth,  is 
like  cutting  off  the  spring  from  the  year.  Accordingly  we  are  told  by 
Diodorus,  that  the  Egyptians  had  a  law  against  this  unnatural  practice, 
which  law  he  numbers  amongst  the  singularities  of  that  people.  "  They 
are  obliged  says  he,  to  bring  up  all  their  children,  in  order  to  render  the 
country  populous,  this  being  esteemed  the  best  means  of  making  states 
flourishing  and  happy."  And  Tacitus  speaks  of  the  prohibition  aa  no 
less  singular  amongst  the  Jews. 

Here  again  Mr.  Bayle  is  much  scandalized :  "  The  first  thing  which 
occurred,  on  the  entrance  into  the  other  world,  was  the  station  assigned 
to  infants,  who  cried  and  lamented  without  ceasing;  and  next  to  that,  the 
station  of  men  unjustly  condemned  to  death.  Now  what  could  be  more 
shocking  or  scandalous  than  the  punishment  of  those  little  creatures, 
who  had  yet  committed  no  sin,  or  those  persons  whose  innocence  had 
been  oppressed  by  calumny?"  The  first  difficulty  is  already  cleared 
up :  the  second  shall  be  considered  by  and  by.  But  it  is  no  wonder  Mr. 
Bayle  could  not  digest  this  doctrine  of  the  infants ;  for  I  am  much  mis- 
taken, if  it  did  not  stick  with  Plato  himself;  who,  relating  the  Vision  of 
Erus,  the  Pamphylian,  concerning  the  distribution  of  rewards  and 
punishments  in  another  life,  when  he  comes  to  the  condition  of  infants, 
passes  it  over  in  in  these  words : — "  But  of  children  who  died  in  their 
infancy,  he  reported  certain  other  things  not  worthy  to  be  remembered. 
Erus's  account  of  what  he  saw  in  another  world,  was  a  summary  of  what 
the  Egyptians  taught  in  their  mysteries  concerning  that  matter.  And  I 
make  uo  doubt  but  the  thing  not  worthy  to  be  remembered,  was  the 
doctrine  of  infants  in  purgatory:  which  appears  to  have  given  Plato 
much  scandal,  who  did  not,  atthattime  at  least,  reflect  upon  its  original 
and  use. 

But  now,  aa  to  the  falsely  condemned,  we  must  seek  another  solu- 
tion : 

"  Next  to  those  are  such  as  had  been  condemned  to  death  by  false 
accusation.  Nor  yet  were  these  seats  assigned  them  without  destina- 
tion and  appointment,  or  without  the  sentence  of  a  judge.  Minos,  as 
inquisitor,  shakes  their  nrn :  he  convokes  the  council  of  the  silent 
shades,  and  examins  their  lives  and  crimes." 

This  designment  appears  both  iniquitous  and  absurd.  The  falsely 
accused  are  not  only  in  a  place  of  punishment,  but,  being  first  delivered 
under  this  single  predicament,  they  are  afterwards  distinguished  into  two 
sorts.;    some  as  blameablc,  others  as  innocent.      To  clear  up  this  con" 


I6i 

fusion,  it  will  be  necessary  to  transcribe  an  old  story,  told  by  Plato  in 
his  Gorgias  :  '♦  This  law,  concerning  mortals,  was  enacted  in  the  time  of 
Saturn,  and  is  yet,  and  ever  will  be  in  force  amongst  the  gods^  that  he 
who  had  lived  a  just  and  pious  life,  should  at  hiis  death  be  carried  into 
the  islands  of  the  blessed,  and  there  possess  all  kinds  of  happiness, 
untainted  with  the  evils  of  mortality:  but  that  he  who  had  lived  unjustly 
and  impiously,  should  be  thrust  into  a  place  of  punishment,  the  piison 
of  divine  justice,  called  Tartarus.  Now  the  judges,  with  whom  the 
execution  of  this  law  was  intrusted,  were,  in  the  time  of  Saturn,  and 
under  the  infancy  of  Jove's  government,  living  men,  sitting  in  judgment 
on  the  living  -  and  passing  sentence  on  them,  upon  the  day  of  their 
decease.  This  gave  occasion  to  unjust  judgments:  on  which  accounti 
Pluto,  and  those  to  whom  the  care  of  the  happy  islands  was  committed, 
went  to  Jupiter,  and  told  him,  that  men  came  to  them  wrongfully  judged, 
both  when  acquitted  and  when  condemned.  To  which  the  father  of  th« 
gods  thus  replied :  I  will  put  a  stop  to  this  evil  These  wrong  judg- 
ments are  partly  occasioned  by  the  corporeal  covering  of  the  persons 
judged;'  for  they  are  tried  while  living:  now  many  have  their  corrupt 
minds  hid  under  a  fair  outside,  adorned  with  birth  and  riches ;  and, 
when  they  come  to  their  trial,  have  witnesses  at  hand,  to  testify  for  their 
good  life  and  conversation ;  this  perverts  the  process,  and  blinds  the 
eyes  of  justice.  Besides,  the  judges  themselves  are  encumbered  with  the 
>same  corporeal  covering :  and  eyes  and  ears,  and  an  impenetrable  tegu- 
ment of  flesh,  hinder  the  mind  from  a  free  exertion  of  its  faculties.  All 
these,  as  well  their  own  covering,  as  the  covering  of  those  they  judge, 
are  bars  and  obstacles  to  right  judgment.  In  the  first  place  then,  says 
he,  we  are  to  provide  that  the  fore-knowledge  which  they  now  have  of 
the  day  of  death,  be  taken  away :  and  this  shall  be  given  in  charge  to 
Prometheus ;  and  then  provide,  that  they  who  come  to  judgment  be  quite 
naked :  for  from  henceforth  they  shall  not  be  tried,  till  they  come  into 
the  other  world.  And  as  they  are  to  be  thus  stripped,  it  is  but  fit  their 
judges  should  await  them  there  in  the  same  condition ;  that,  at  the  arrival 
of  every  inhabitant,  soul  may  look  on  soul,  and  all  family  relation,  and 
every  worldly  ornament  being  dropt  and  left  behind,  righteous  judgment 
may  at  length  take  place.  I,  therefore,  who  foresaw  all  these  things, 
before  you  felt  them,  have  taken  care  to  constitute  my  own  sons,  the 
judges  :  two  of  them  Minos  and  Rhadamanthus,  are  Asiatics ;  the  third, 
Eacus,  an  European.  These,  when  they  die,  shall  have  their  tribunal 
erected  in  the  shades,  just  in  that  part  of  the  highway,  where  the  two 
roads  divide,  the  one  leading  to  the  happy  islands,  the  other  to  Tartarus. 

21 


162  AN    EXAMIJfATION    OF    THE 

Rhadamanthus  shall  judge  the  Asiatics,  and  Eacus  the  Europeans ;  bat 
to  Minos  I  give  the  superior  authority  of  hearing  appeals,  when  any- 
thing obscure  or  difficult  shall  perplex  the  others'  judgments :  that  every 
one  may  have  his  abode  assigned  him  with  the  utmost  equity." 

The  matter  no  w  begins  to  clear  up ;  and  we  see  plainly,  that  the  cir- 
cumstance of  the  falsely  condemned,  alludes  to  this  old  fable :  so  that  by 
falso  damnati  crimine  mortis,  if  it  be  the  true  reading,  Virgil  did  not  mean, 
as  one  would  suppose,  men  falsely  condemned,  but  wrongfully  judged, 
whether  to  acquittal  or  conviction;  but  condemnation  being  oftenestthe 
sentence  of  justice,  the  greater  part  is  put  figuratively  for  the  whole. 

One  difficulty  remains ;  and  that,  to  confess  the  truth,  hath  arisen 
rather  from  a  mistake  of  Virgil,  than  of  his  reader.  We  find  these  peo- 
ple yet  unjudged,  already  fixed  with  other  criminals  in  the  assigned 
district  of  purgatory.  But  they  are  misplaced,  through  an  oversight  of 
the  poet ;  which,  had  he  lived  to  perfect  the  Eneid,  he  would  probably 
have  corrected :  for  the  fable  tells  us  they  should  be  stationed  on  the 
borders  of  the  three  divisions,  in  that  part  of  the  high  road  that  divides 
itself  in  two,  which  lead  to  Tartarus  and  Elysium,  thus  described  by 
the  poet: 

"  This  is  the  place  where  the  path  divides  in  two :  the  right  is  that 
which  leads  to  great  Pluto's  walls,  by  this  our  way  to  Elysium  lies ; 
but  the  lefl  carries  on  the  punishments  of  the  wicked,  and  conveys 
to  cursed  Tartarus." 

It  only  remains  to  consider  the  origin  or  moral  of  the  fable  ;  which, 
I  think,  was  this :  it  was  an  Egyptian  custom,  as  we  are  told  by  Dio- 
dorus  Siculus,  for  judges  to  sit  on  every  man's  life,  at  his  interment;  to 
examine  his  past  actions,  and  to  condemn  and  acquit  according  to  the 
evidence  before  them.  These  judges  were  of  the  priesthood ;  and  so,  it 
is  probable,  taught,  like  the  priests  of  the  church  of  Rome,  that  their 
decrees  were  ratified  in  the  other  world.  Partiality  and  corruption 
would,  in  time,  pervert  their  sentence ;  and  spite  and  favor  prevail  over 
justice.  As  this  might  scandalize  the  people,  it  would  be  found  necessary 
to  teach,  that  the  sentence  which  influenced  every  one's  final  doom,  was 
reserred  for  a  future  judicature.  However,  the  priest  took  care  that  all 
should  not  go  out  of  his  hands;  and  when  he  could  be  no  longer  judge, 
he  contrived  to  find  his  account  in  turning  evidence  ;  as  may  be  seen 
by  the  singular  cast  of  this  ancient  inscription :  "  I  Sextus  Anicius 
pontifT certify  that  this  man  has  lived  honestly:  may  his  soul  rest  in 
peace."     (Fabius  Celsus  Inscript.  Antiq.  lib.  iii.) 

Eneas,  having  passed  this  first  division,  comes  now  on  the  confines 


163 

of  Tar  tarns  ;  and  is  instructed  in  what  relates  to  the  crimes  and  punish- 
ments of  the  inhabitants. 

It  is  remarkable,  that  Eneas  is  led  through  the  regions  of  Purga- 
tory and  Elysium ;  but  he  only  sees  the  sights  of  Tartarus  at  a  distance, 
and  this  could  not  be  otherwise  in  the  shows  of  the  mysteries,  for  very 
obvious  reasons. 

Among  the  criminals  destined  to  eternal  punishment,  in  this  division, 
are,  those  who  had  sinned  so  secretly  as  to  escape  the  animadversion 
of  the  magistrate. 

And  it  was  principally  on  account  of  such  crimes  that  the  legislator 
enforced  the  doctrine  of  a  future  state  of  punishment. 

The  infringers  of  the  duties  of  imperfect  obligation,  which  civii 
laws  cannot  reach  :  such  as  those  without  natural  affection  to  brothers, 
duty  to  parents,  protection  to  clients,  or  charity  to  the  poor.* 

The  invaders  and  violators  of  the  holy  mysteries,  held  out  in  the  per- 
son of  Theseus,  make  the  last  class  of  offenders. 

"  There  sits,  and  to  eternity  shall  sit,  the  unhappy  Theseus ;  and 
Phlegyas  most  wretched  is  a  monitor  to  all,  and  with  loud  voice  pro- 
claims through  the  shade  :  warned  by  my  example,  learn  righteousness^ 
and  not  to  contemn  the  gods?* 

The  fable  says,  that  Theseus  and  his  friend  Pirithous  formed  a 
design  to  steal  Proserpine  from  hell ;  but  being  taken  in  the  fact,  Piri- 
thous was  thrown  to  the  dog  Cerberus,  and  Theseus  kept  in  chains,  till 
he  was  delivered  by  Hercules :  which  without  doubt  means  the  death 
of  one,  and  the  imprisonment  of  the  other,  for  their  clandestine  intrusion 
kito  the  mysteries.  We  have  already  offered  several  reasons,  to  show 
that  the  descent  of  Theseus  into  hell,  was  a  violation  of  the  mysteries : 
to  which  we  may  add  what  the  ancients  tell  us  of  the  duration  of  his 
imprisonment,  which  was  four  years ;  the  interim  between  the  cele- 
brations of  the  greater  mysteries. 

But  when  Virgil  comes  to  describe  these  shows,  which  were  sup- 
posed to  be  a  true  representation  of  what  was  done  and  suffered  in  hell, 
Theseus  is  put  among  the  damned,  that  being  his  station  in  the  other 
world. 

This  will  remind  the  learned  reader  of  a  story  told  by  Livy.  "  The 
Athenians,  says  he,  drew  upon  themselves  a  war  with  Philip,  on  a  very 
slight  occasion ;  and  at  a  time  when  nothing  remained  of  their  ancient 
fortune,  but  their  high   spirit.      Two  young  Acarnanians,  during  the 

♦So  the  law  of  the  Twelve  Tables:  Patronus  si  dienti  fraudtm  fecerit,  sacer 
€sto. 


164  AN    EXAMINATION    OT    THE 

days  of  initiation,  themselves  nninitiated,  and  ignorant  of  all  that  related 
to  that  secret  worship,  entered  the  temple  of  Ceres  along  with  the  crowd- 
Their  discourse  soon  betrayed  them  ;  as  making  some  absurd  inquiries 
into  what  they  saw ;  so  being  brought  before  the  president  of  the  mys- 
teries, although  it  was  evident  they  had  entered  ignorantly  and  without 
design,  they  were  put  to  death,  as  guilty  of  a  most  abominable  crime." 

The  office  Theseus  is  put  upon,  of  admonishing  his  hearers  against 
impiety,  could  not,  sure,  be  discharged  in  these  shows  by  any  one  so 
well,,  as  by  him  who  represented  the  violator  of  them.  But  the  critics^ 
unconscious  of  any  such  design,  considered  the  task  the  poet  has; 
imposed  on  Theseus,  of  perpetually  sounding  in  the  ears  of  the  damned,, 
this  admonition : 

"Warned  by  my  example,,  learn  righteousness,  and  not  to  contemn 
tlie  gods-!^  as^a  very  impertinent  employment.  For  though  it  was  a  sen-^ 
tence  oi  great  truth  and  dignity,  it  was  preached  to  very  little  purpose 
amongst  those,  to  whom  there  wa»  no  room  for  pardon  or  remission. 

Even  Scarronhath  not  neglected  to  urge  this  objection  against  it:* 
and  it  must  be  owned,  that,  according  to  the  common  ideas  of  Eneas's 
descent  into  hell,  the  objection  is  not  easily  got  over. 

But,  suppose  Virgil  to  be  here  relating  the  admonitory  maxims- 
delivered  during  the  celebration  of  these  mystic  shaws,  and  nothing  could 
be  more  just  or  useful :  for  then,  the  discourse  was- addressed  to  the  vast 
multitude  of  living  spectators.  Nor  is  it  a  mere  supposition  that  such 
discourses  made  part  of  these  representations.  Aristides  expressly  says^ 
that  in. no  place  were  more  astonishing  words  pronounced  or  sung,  thark 
in  these  mysteries :  the  reason,  he  tells  us,  was,  that  the  sounds  and  the 
sights  might  mutually  assist  each  other  in  making  an  impression  on? 
the  minds  of  the  initiated.  But,  from  a  passage  in  Pindar,  I  conclude^ 
that  in  these  shows,  from  whence  men  took  their  ideas  of  the  infernal 
regions,  it  was  customary  for  each  offender  as  he  passed  by,  in  machi- 
nery, to  make  an  admonition  against  his  own  crime.  "It  is  reported,, 
says,  Pindar,  that  Ixion,  by  the  decrees  of  the  gods,  while  he  is  inces- 
santly turning  round  his  rapid  wheel,  calls  out  upon  mortals  to  this 
effect :  that  they  should  be  always  at  hand  to  repay  a  benefactor  for 
the  kindness  he  had  done  them."  Where  the  word  Brotoi,  living  men, 
seems  plainly  to  show  that  the  speech  was  at  first  made  before  men  in 
this  world. 


Cette  sentence  est  bonne  &  belle, 
Mais  en  Enfer  de  quoi  sert-elle'! 


165 

The  poet  closes  his  catalogue  of  the  damned  with  these  words : 
Ausi  omnes  immane  nefas,  ausoque  potiti. 
For  the  ancients  thought  that  an  action  was  sanctified  hy  the  success  ; 
which  they  esteemed  a  mark  of  the  favor  and  approbation  of  heaven. 
As  this  was  a  very  pernicious  opinion,  it  Avas  necessary  to  teach,  that 
the  imperial  villain  who  trampled  on  his  country,  and  the  baffled  plot- 
ter who  expired  on  a  gibbet,  were  equally  the  objects  of  divine  ven- 
geance. 

Eneas  has  now  passed  through  Tartarus ;  and  here  end  the  lesser 
mysteries. 

The  hero  advances  to  the  borders  of  Elysium,  and  here  he  under, 
goes  the  lustration : 

"  Eneas  springs  forward  to  the  entry,  sprinkles  his  body  with,  fresh 
water  J  and  fixes  the  bough  in  the  fronting  portal." 

"  Being  now  about  to  undergo  the  lustration,  says  Sopater,  whicb 
immediately  precede  initiation  into  the  greater  mysteries,  they  called  me 
happy." 

Accordingly,  Eneas  now  enters  on  the  greater  mysteries,  and  comes^ 
to  the  abodes  of  the  blessed  : 

"  They  came  at  length  to  the  regions  of  eternal  joy,  delightful  green* 
retreats,  and  blessed  abodes  in  groves  where  happiness  abounds.  Here 
the  air  they  breathe  is  more  free  and  enlarged,  and  clothes  the  fields  with 
radiant  light  :  here  the  happy  inhabitants  know  their  own  sun  and  their 
©wn  stars." 

These  two  so  different  scenes  explain  what  Aristides  meant,  when 
he  called  the  shows  ofthe  Eleusinian  mysteries,  that  most  shocking,  and 
at  the  same  time,  most  ravishing  representation. 

The  initiated,  who  till  now  only  bore  the  name  of  Mystai,  are  called 
Epoptai,  and  this  new  vision,  Autops^ia.  "The  Autopsia,  or  the  seeing 
with  their  own  eyes,  says  Psellus,  is  when  he  who  is  initiated  beholds 
the  divine  lights.^* 

In  these  very  circumstances  Themistius  describes  the  initiated,  wheii^ 
just  entered  upon  this  scene.  "  It  being  thoroughly  purified,  he  now 
discloses  to  the  initiated,  a  region  all  over  illuminated,  and  shining  with^ 
a  divine  splendor.  This  which  was  all  over  illuminated,  and  whicb 
the  priest  had  thoroughly  purified,  was  agalma,  an  image.  The  rea- 
son of  transferring  what  is  said  ofthe  illumination  of  the  image,  to  the 
illumination  of  the  region,  is,  because  this  image  represented  the  appear- 
ances ofthe  divine  Being,  in  one  large,  uniform,  extensive  light.  This^ 
Jamblichus  says,  was  without  figure.  To  this  image,  the  following  lines- 
in  the  oracles  of  Zoroaster  allude: 


166  AN    EXAMINATION    OF    THE 

"  Invoke  not  the  self-conspicuous  image  of  nature,  for  thou  must 
not  behold  these  things  before  thy  body  be  purified  by  initiation."  This 
autopton  agalma  was  only  a  diffusive  shining  light,  as  the  name  partly 
declares ;  and  the  sight  of  this  divine  splendor  was  what  the  mysteries 
called  autopsia. 

The  cloud  and  thick  darkness  are  dispersed ;  and  the  mind  emer- 
ges, as  it  were,  into  day,  full  of  light  and  chearfulness,  as  before,  of  dis- 
consolate obscurity. 

Pletho  tells  us  with  what  these  clouds  were  accompanied,  namely, 
thunder  and  lightniyig,  and  other  meteoric  appearances.  He  says,  they 
were  symbols,  but  not  of  the  nature  of  the  deity  :  and  this  was  true ;  for 
the  symbol  of  that  was  the  autopton  agalma  which  followed:  hence,  as 
we  see  above,  it  was  without  figure. 

Let  me  observe,  that  the  lines,  "  Here  the  air  they  breathe  is  more 
free  and  enlarged,  and  clothes  the  fields  with  radient  light :  here  the 
happy  inhabitants  know  their  own  sun,  and  their  own  stars,"  are  in 
the  very  language  of  those  who  profess  to  tell  us  what  they  saw  at 
their  initiation  into  the  greater  mysteries.  "  At  midnight  I  saw  the 
sun  shining  with  a  splendid  light,"  says  Apuleius  on  that  occasion. 


Dupuis,  speaking  of  the  mysteries,  says,  "They  discovered  the  origin  of  the  soul, 
its  fall  to  the  earth  through  the  spheres  and  the  elements,  and  its  return  to  the  place  of 
its  origin  :  here  was  the  most  metaphysical  part  and  which  could  not  be  understood  by 
the  generality  of  the  initiated,  but  of  which  they  gave  them  the  sight  by  figures  and 
allegorical  specters." — (See  Moore's  Epic.) 

Thomas  Taylor,  a  modern  writer,  and  I  believe  still  living,  in  a  Dissertation  on  the 
Eleusinian  and  Bacchic  Mysteries,  contends  for  the  reality  of  the  descent  of  the  gods 
through  magical  evocation ;  and  he  quotes  the  authority  of  ancient  authors  in  proof  of 
the  fact. 

Mr.  Taylor  possesses  great  erudition ;  has  translated  the  commentaries  of  Proclus^ 
and  the  works  of  Jamblichus  and  Apuleius ;  is  a  thorough  convert  to  the  Platonic  philo- 
sophy, and  an  enthusiastic  admirer  of  the  rites  of  Ceres  and  Bacchus ;  "In  the  compo- 
sition of  which  he  says  we  may  discern  the  traces  of  exalted  wisdom,  and  recondite 
theology ;  of  a  theology  the  most  venerable  for  its  antiquity,  and  the  most  admirable 
for  its  excellence  and  reality. 

Plato,  says  he,  in  the  Phoedrus,  thus  describes  the  felicity  of  the  virtuous  soul  prior 
to  its  descent,  in  a  beautiful  allusion  to  the  arcane  vision  of  the  mysteries  : 

"  But  it  was  then  lawful  to  survey  the  most  splendid  beauty,  when  we  obtained 
together  with  that  blessed  choir,  this  happy  vision  and  contemplation.  And  we  indeed 
enjoyed  this  blessed  spectacle  together  with  Jupiter,  but  others,  in  conjunction  with 
some  other  god ;  at  the  same  time  being  initiated  in  those  mysteries,  which  it  is  law- 
ful to  call  the  most  blessed  of  all  mysteries.  And  these  divine  Orgies  were  celebrated 
by  us,  while  we  possessed  the  proper  integrity  of  our  nature,  and  were  freed  from  the 
molestations  of  evil  which  awaited  us  in  a  succeeding  period  of  lime.  Likewise  in  con- 
sequence of  this  divine  initiation,  we  became  spectators  of  entire,  simple,  immoveable> 
and  blessed  visions,  resident  in  a  pure  light ;  and  were  ourselves  pure  and  immaculate 


167 

and  liberated  from  this  surrounding  vestment,  which  we  denominate  body,  and  to 
which  we  are  now  bound  Uke  an  oyster  to  its  shell."  Upon  this  beautiful  passage  Pro- 
clus  observes,  in  Theol.  Plat.  lib.  4,  p.  193.  "That  initiation  and  inspection  are  sym- 
bols of  ineffable  silence,  and  of  union  with  mystical  natures,  through  intelligible  vis- 
ions !" 

Now,  from  all  this,  it  may  be  inferred,  that  the  most  sublime  part  of  epoptia  or 
inspection,  consisted  in  beholding  the  gods  themselves  invested  with  a  resplendent 
light ;  and  that  this  was  symbolical  of  those  transporting  visions,  which  the-  virtuous 
soul  will  constantly  enjoy  in  a  future  state,  and  of  which  it  is  able  to  gain  some  ravish- 
ing ghmpses,  even  while  connected  with  the  cumbrous  vestment  of  the  body. 

But  that  this  was  actually  the  case,  is  evident  from  the  following  unequivocal  testi- 
mony of  Proclus  in  Plat.  Repub.  p.  380. 

"In  all  initiations  and  mysteries,  the  gods  exhibit  many  forms  of  themselves,  and 
appear  in  a  variety  of  shapes  ;  and  sometimes  indeed,  an  unjlgured  light  of  themselves 
is  held  forth  to  the  view,  sometimes  this  light  is  figured  according  to  a  human  form, 
and  sometimes  it  proceeds  into  a  different  shape.^'  This  doctrine,  too,  of  divine  appear- 
ances in  the  mysteries,  is  clearly  confirmed  by  Plotinus,  Ennead  i.  lib.  6.  p.  55.  and 
Ennead  9.  lib.  .6  p.  700.  And  in  short,  that  magical  evocation  formed  a  part  of  the 
sacercZotoZ  q^ce  in  the  mysteries,  and  that  this  was  universally  believed  by  all  anti- 
quity, long  before  the  era  of  the  latter  Platonists,  is  plain  from  the  testimony  of  Hippo- 
crates, or  at  least  Democritus,  in  his  treatise  deMorbo.  Sacro.  p.  86.  For  speaking  of 
those  who  attempt  to  cure  this  disease  by  magic,  he  observes : 

"If  they  profess  themselves  able  to  draw  down  the  moon,  to  obscure  the  sun,  to 
produce  stormy  and  pleasant  weather,  as  hkewise  showers  of  rain,  and  heats,  and  to 
render  the  sea  and  the  earth  barren,  and  to  accomplish  every  thing  else  of  this  kind, 
whether  they  derive  this  knowledge  from  the  mysteries,  or  from  some  other  institution 
or  meditation,  they  appear  to  me  to  be  impious,  from  the  study  of  such  concerns." 
From  all  which  it  is  easy  to  see,  how  egregiously  Dr.  Warburton  was  mistaken,  when 
in  his  Divine  Legation,  he  asserts,  "  that  the  light  beheld  in  the  mysteries,  was  nothing 
more  than  an  illuminated  image  which  the  priests  had  thoroughly  purified." 

But  he  is  likewise  no  less  mistaken,  in  transferring  the  injunction  given  in  one  of  the 
magic  oracles  of  Zoroaster,  to  the  business  of  the  Eleusinian  mysteries,  and  in  pervert- 
ing the  meaning  of  the  Oracle's  admonition.    For  thus  the  Oracle  speaks  : 

"Invoke  not  the  self  conspicuous  image  of  nature,  for  you  must  not  behold  these 
things  before  your  body  has  received  the  purification  necessary  to  initiation."  Upon 
which  he  observes,  "  that  the  self  conspicuous  image  was  only  a  diffusive  shining  light, 
as  the  name  partly  declares."  But  this  is  a  piece  of  gross  ignorance,  from  which  he 
might  have  been  freed  by  an  attentive  perusal  of  Proclus  on  the  Timaeus  of  Plato,  for 
in  these  truly  divine  commentaries  we  learn,  "that  the  moon  is  the  self  conspicuous 
image  of  fontal  nature."— In  Tim.  p.  260. 

Theurgic  magic  is  still  adhered  to  by  the  church  of  Rome,  and  ^orms  apart  of  the 
sacerdotal  office.  By  which  means,  it  is  believed,  that  the  real  presence  of  the  Saviour 
is  manifested  in  the  eucharist. 

Masonry  adopts  the  same  principle.  In  the  royal  arch  degree,  the  autopton  agalma 
is  exhibited  in  an  illuminated  bush:  the  candidate  for  initiation  is  ordered  to  put  off  his 
shoes,  being  told  that  the  place  where  he  stands  is  holy  ground.  In  fact  one  of  the 
characters  personates  the  deity,  and  announces  his  actual  appearance. 

The  more  we  examine  the  pagan  system  of  religion,  the  more  shall  we  be  convinced 
that  the  rites  and  ceremonies  of  masonry,  as  well  as  those  of  the  Catholic  church,  are 
derived  fiom  that  ancient  institution. 


168  AN    EXAMINATION    OF    THE 

Virgil,  by  leaving  his  master,  and  copying  the  amiable  paintings  of 
Elysium,  as  they  were  represented  in  the  mysteries,  hath  artfully  avoided 
a  fault  too  justly  objected  to  Homer,  of  giving  so  dark  and  joyless  a 
landscape  of  the  for tunat a  nemora,  as  could  raise  no  desire  or  appetite 
for  them :  his  favorite  hero,  himself,  who  possessed  them,  telling 
Ulisses,  that  he  had  rather  be  a  day  laborer  above,  than  command  in 
the  regions  of  the  dead.  Such  a  representation  defeats  the  very  intent 
of  the  law  giver,  in  propagating  the  doctrines  of  a  future  state.  Nay, 
to  mortify  every  excitement  to  noble  actions,  the  Greek  poet  makes  repu- 
tation, fame,  and  glory,  the  great  spur  to  virtue  in  the  pagan  system, 
to  be  visionary  and  impertinent.  On  the  contrary,  Virgil,  whose  aim, 
in  this  poem,  was  the  good  of  society,  makes  the  love  of  glory  so 
strong  a  passion  in  the  other  world,  that  the  Sibyl's  promise  to  PalinU' 
rus,  that  his  name  should  only  be  affixed  to  a  promontory,  rejoices  his 
shade  even  in  the  regions  of  the  unhappy. 

It  was  this  ungracious  description  of  Elysium,  and  the  licentious 
stories  of  the  gods,  both  so  pernicious  to  society,  that  made  Plato  ban- 
ish Homer  out  of  his  republic. 

But  to  return.     The  poet  having  described  the  climate  of  the  happy 

regions,  speaks  next  of  the  amusement  of  its  inhabitants. 

•  Some  exercise  their  limbs  on  the  grassy  plains,  in  sports  contend,  and  wrestle  on 
the  yellow  sand.' 

Besides  the  obvious  allusion  in  these  lines  to  the  philosophy  of  Plato 
concerning  the  duration  of  the  passions,  it  seems  to  have  a  more  secret 
one  to  what  he  had  all  the  way  in  his  eye,  the  Eleusinian  Mysteries, 
whose  celebration  was  accompanied  by  the  Grecian  games.  On  which 
account  too,  perhaps  it  was  that,  in  the  disposition  of  his  work,  his  fifth 
book  is  employed  in  the  games,  as  a  prelude  to  the  descent  in  the 
sixth. 

The  jfirst  place  in  these  happy  regions,  is  assigned  to  the  lawgiv- 
ers, and  those  who  brought  mankind  from  a  state  of  nature  into  society. 

At  the  head  of  these  is  Orpheus,  the  most  renowned  of  the  Euro- 
pean lawgivers  ;  but  better  known  under  the  character  of  poet :  for  the 
first  laws  being  written  in  measure,  to  allure  men  to  learn  them,  and 
when  learnt,  to  retain  them,  the  fable  would  have  it,  that  by  the  force  of 
harmony,  Orpheus  softened  the  savage  inhabitants  of  Thrace. 

But  he  has  the  first  place ;  because  he  was  not  only  a  legislator  but 
the  bringer  of  the  mysteries  into  that  part  of  Europe. 

The  next  is  allotted  to  patriots,  and  those  who  died  for  the  service 
of  their  country. 


169 

The  third  to  virtuous  and  pious  priests.  For  it  was  of  principal 
use  to  society,  that  religious  men  should  lead  holy  lives  ;  and  that  they 
should  teach  nothing  of  the  gods  but  what  was  agreeable  to  the  divino 
nature. 

The  last  place  is  given  to  the  inventors  of  arts  mechanical  and 
liberal.  The  order  is  exact  and  beautiful.  The  first  class  is  of  those  who 
founded  society,  heroes  and  lawgivers :  the  second,  of  those  who  sup- 
ported it,  patriots  and  holy  priests  :  and  the  third,  of  those  who  adorned 
it,  the  inventors  of  the  arts  of  life,  and  the  recorders  of  worthy  actions. 

Virgil  has  all  along  closely  followed  the  doctrine  of  the  mysteriesi 
which  carefully  taught  that  virtue  only  could  entitle  men  to  happiness  ; 
and  that  rites,  ceremonies,  lustrations,  and  sacrifices  would  not  supply 
the  want  of  it. 

Nor  has  he  been  less  studious  in  copying  their  shows  and  repre- 
sentations ;  in  which  the  figures  of  those  heroes  and  heroines,  who  were 
most  celebrated  in  the  writings  of  ihz  ancient  Greek  authors,  passed  in 
procession. — ( Aristid. ) 

But  notwithstanding  this  entire  conformity  between  the  poet's  scenes 
and  those  represented  in  the  mysteries,  something  is  still  wanting  to 
complete  the  identification :  and  that  is,  the  famous  secret  of  the  mys- 
teries, the  unity  of  the  godhead,  of  which  so  much  hath  been  said  above. 
Had  Virgil  neglected  to  give  us  this  characteristic  mark,  though,  even 
then,  we  could  not  but  say,  his  intention  was  to  represent  an  initiation; 
yet  we  must  have  been  forced  to  own  he  had  not  done  it  with  the 
utmost  art.  But  he  was  too  good  a  painter,  to  leave  any  thing  ambigu- 
ous ;  and  hath  therefore  concluded  his  hero's  initiation,  as  was  the  cus- 
tom, with  instructing  him  in  the  Aporreta,  or  the  doctrine  of  the  unity. 
Till  this  was  done,  the  initiated  was  not  arrived  to  the  highest  stage  of 
perfection ;  nor,  in  the  fullest  sense,  intitled  to  the  appellation  of  Epoptes. 
Musa^us,  therefore,  who  had  been  hierophant  at  Athens,  takes  the 
place  of  the  Sibyl,  as  it  was  the  custom  to  have  different  guides  in  dif- 
ferent parts  of  the  celebration,  and  is  made  to  conduct  him  to  the  recess 
where  his  father's  shade  opens  to  him  the  hidden  doctrine  of  perfection, 
in  these  sublime  words : 

"First  then,  the  divine  spirit  within  sustains  the  heavens,  the  earth, 
and  watery  plains,  the  moon's  enlightened  orb,  and  shining  stars  ;  and 
the  eternal  mind,  defused  through  all  the  parts  of  nature,  actuates  the 
whole  stupendous  frame  and  mingles  with  the  vast  body  of  the  universe. 
Thence  proceed  the  race  of  men  and  beats,  the  vital  principles  of  th« 
flying  kind,  and  the  monsters  which  the  ocean  breeds  under  its  smootk 
crystal  plain." 

Vt 


170  AN    EXAMINATION    OF    THB 

This  was  nootherlhan  the  doctrine  of  the  old  Egyptians,  as  we  are 
assured  by  Plato;  who  says  they  taugh  that  Jupiter  was  the  spirit 
which  pervadeth  all  things. 

We  have  shown  how  easily  the  Greek  philosophy  corrupted  this 
principle  into  what  is  now  called  Spinozism.  Here  Virgil  has  pro- 
ved his  judgment  to  great  advantage.  Nothing  was  more  abhorrent 
from  the  mysteries,  than  Spinozism,  as  it  overturned  the  doctrine  of  a 
future  state  of  rewards  and  punishments,  which  the  mysteries  so' 
carefully  inculcated  ;  and  yet  the  principle  itself,  of  which  Spinozism 
was  the  abuse,  was  cherished  there,  as  it  was  the  consequence  of  the 
doctrine  of  the  unity,  the  grand  secret  of  the  mysteries.  Virgil,  there- 
fore, delivers  the  principle,  with  great  caution,  and  pure  and  free  of  the 
abuse ;  though  he  understood  the  nature  of  Spinozism,  and  in  his  fourth 
Georgia,  where  he  delivers  it,  appears  to  have  been  infected  with  it. 


The  doctrine  of  the  unity  of  the  godhead,  here  contended  by  the  author  to  be  taught 
by  Virgil,  and  as  being  the  doctrine  of  the  old  Egyptians,  must  not  be  understood  as 
opposed  to  the  behef  in  the  triplicity  of  the  Supreme  Being,  an  opinion  universally  held 
by  the  ancient  world.  Different  nations  expressed  this  triplicity  by  various  names,  to 
which  they  also  assigned  different  attributes, 

"The  philosophers  of  all  nations  (says  Ramsey,  in  a  Dissertation  on  the  Theory  and 
Mythology  of  the  Pagans)  seem  to  have  had  some  idea,  more  or  less  confused,  of  ihe 
triplicity  of  the  Supreme  Unity.  Plato  speaks  of  the  three  forms  of  the  Divinity,  which 
he  calls  Agaihos,  Logos,  and  Psyche  ;  the  sovereign  good,  which  is  the  principle  of  deity  ;. 
the  intelligence,  which  drew  the  plan  of  the  world ;  and  the  energy,  which  execti- 
ted  it." 

An  erroneous  assignment  is  here  made,  by  Ramsey,  of  the  attributes  or  powers  of 
the  persons  composing  this  trinity,  Agalhos,  the  sovereign  good,  is  the  intelligence^ 
which  drew  the  plan  of  the  world ;  Logos  or  Word  is  the  energy  which  executed  it ;  and 
Psyche,  is  but  another  name  for  Isis,  indicating  the  productions  of  the  earth,  which  gives 
a  finish  and  beauty  to  the  whole  creation.  This  is  agreeable  to  the  masonic  trinity, 
which  is  denominated  Wisdom,  Strength,  and  Beauty. 

Fontenelle  gives  the  following  curious  anecdote  of  a  responce  from  the  Oracle  of 
Serapis : 

"Thulis,  a  king  of  Egypt,  who,  as  is  said,  gave  the  name  of  Thule  to  the  isle  now 
called  Iceland ;  his  empire  reaching  thither  was  of  large  extent ;  and,  being  puffed  up 
with  pride,  he  went  to  the  oracle  of  Serapis,  and  thus  spake  to  it :  *  Thou  that  art  the  god 
of  fire,  and  who  governest  the  course  of  the  heavens,  tell  me  the  truth;  wa?  there  ever, 
or  will  there  ever  be,  one  so  puissant  as  myself?'  The  oracle  answered  him  thus  : 
'  First  God,  then  the  Word  and  Spirit,  all  united  in  one,  whose  power  can  never  end_ 
Go  hence  immediately,  O  mortal  !^  whose  life  is  always  uncertain.'  And  Thulis  at  his 
going  thence,  had  his  throat  cut."  (Suidas.)  History  Oracles,  p.  9,  London,  1688, 

The  Greek  inscription  on  the  great  obelisk  at  Rome,  says  Chateaubrian,  was  to  this 
effect:  "The  Mighty  God;  Begotton  of  God;  and  the  All-resplendent  Apollo,  ihe 
Spirit."— (See  Knapp's  Spirit.  Mas,  p.  102.) 

The  idea  of  the  pagan  trinity,  according  to  Volney's  opinion,  was  founded  on  the 
three  modes  of  action  of  the  sun,  in  the  three  seasons  of  the  year.     The  sun  thus  char* 


SIXTH    BOOK    OF    VIRGIL's   ENEID.  171 

acterized,  "  la,  says  he,  no  other  than  the  three-eyed  Jupiter,  eye  and  aun  being  expres- 
sed by  the  same  word  in  most  of  the  ancient  languages  of  Asia.  Tliis  is  the  origin  of  all 
the  trinitary  system  subtilised  by  Pythagoras  and  Plato,  and  totally  disfigured  by  their 
interpreters."— (/?uins,  p.  159.) 

Although  innovations  appear  to  have  been  introduced  in.the  administration  of  the 
rites  of  the  lesser  mysteries,  in  Greece  and  Rome,  particularly  in  the  latter,  still  it  does 
not  appear  that  women,  as  our  author  supposes,  were  even  admitted  to  participate  in 
the  celebrations  of  the  greater  mysteries;  much  less  to  act  as  hierophants,  to  expound 
what  were  called  the  sacred  secrets  therein  contained.  This  would  have  been  too  great 
a  departure  from  the  original,  and,  moreover,  exposed  the  secrets  to  too  greflt  hazard. 
"In  Egypt  the  office  of  the  priesthood  is  in  every  instance  confined  to  the  men ;  there 
are  no  priestesses  in  the  service  of  male  or  female  deities." — (See  Bedoe's  Herodotus.) 
And  here  it  maybe  worthy  of  remark,  that  the  freemasons  have  adhered  closely  to  their 
prototype,  by  the  total  exclusion  of  females  from  their  order. 

Women  and  children,  as  we  have  seen,  were  freely  admitted  to  the  trifling  showa 
and  representations  of  the  lesser  mysteries,  and  here,  it  seems,  women  sometimes  took 
the  lead,  and  presided  at  the  celebrations. 

Virgil  has  made  this  distinction  as  pointed  as  possible,  in  the  duties  he  assigns  to 
the  Sibyl.  When  she  arrives  in  eight  of  Elysium,  where  the  greater  mysteries  com- 
mence, her  command  ceases,  and  she  resigns  her  office  to  Musaeus,  She  was  an  utter 
stranger  to  the  country,  and  applies  to  him  for  instruction.  Eneas,  while  under  her 
guidance,  could  only  view  at  a  distance,  like  Moses  upon  Mount  Pisgah,  the  happy 
regions  of  the  blessed ; 

The  chief  beheld  their  chariots/rom  q/ar, 

Their  shining  arms,  and  coursers  trained  to  war. 

Their  lances  fix'd  in  earth— their  steeds  around, 

Free  from  their  harness,  graze  the  fiow'ry  ground. 

The  love  of  horses  which  they  had,  alive, 

And  care  of  chariots,  after  death  survive. 

Some  cheereful  souls  were  feasting  on  the  plain ; 

Some  did  the  song,  and  some  the  choir,  maintain, 

Beneath  a  laurel  shade,  where  mighty  Po 

Mounts  up  to  woods  above,  and  hides  his  head  below. 
To  these  the  Sibyl  thus  her  speech  address'd. 

And  first  to  him  surrounded  by  the  rest — . 

(Tow'ring  his  height,  and  amjjle  was  his  breast)— 
"Say,  happy  souls!  divine  Musaeus!  say, 

Where  lives  Anchises,  and  where  lies  our  way 

To  find  the  hero,  for  whose  only  sake 

We  sought  the  dark  abodes,  and  cross'd  the  bitter  lake  T 

To  this  the  sacred  poet  thus  reply'd  : 
"In  no  fix'd  place  the  happy  souls  reside. 

In  groves  we  hve,  and  lie  on  mossy  beds, 

By  crystial  streams,  that  murmer  through  the  meads : 

But  pass  yon  easy  hills,  and  thence  descend ; 

The  path  conducts  you  to  your  journey's  end." 

This  said,  he  led  them  up  the  mountain's  brow, 

And  shows  them  all  the  shining  fields  below; 

They  wind  the  hill,  and  thro'  the  bhssful  meadows  go. 

{Dryden's  TVaw*.) 


The  mysteries  did  not  teach  the  doctrine  of  the  unity  for  mere  spe- 
culation ;  but,  as  we  said  before,  to  obviate  certain  mischiefs  of  poly- 
theism, and  to  support  the  believe  of  a  providence.  Now,  as  a  future 
state  of  rewards  and  punishments  did  not  quite  remove  the  objectioni 


172  AN    KIAMINATION    OF    THB 

to  its  inequalitiea  here,  they  added  to  it  the  doctrine  of  the  netempsy- 
chosis,  OT  the  believe  of  a.  prior  state.  (Vid  Porph.  de  Abst.  1.  iv. 
sect.  16.  et  Cic  Fra?m.  ex  lib.  de  Philosophia.)  And  this,  likewi.se 
our  poet  has  been  careful  to  record.  For  after  having  revealed  the 
great  secret  of  the  unitt/,  he  goes  on  to  speak  of  the  metempsychosis, 
or  transmigration,  in  this  manner  ; 

"  All  these  souls  w^hom  you  see,  after  they  have  rolled  away  a 
thousand  years,  are  summoned  forth  by  the  god,  in  a  great  body  to  the 
river  Lethe ;  to  the  intent  that,  losing  memory  of  the  past,  they  may 
reviset  the  upper  regions,  and  again  become  willing  to  return  into 
bodies." 

And  thence  takes  occasion  to  explain  the  nature  and  use  of  purga- 
tory, which,  in  his  hero's  passage  through  that  region,  had  not  been 
done :  this  affords  him  too  an  opportunity  for  that  noble  episode,  the 
procession  of  the  hero's  posterity,  which  passes  in  review  before  him: 
And  with  this  the  scene  closes. 

In  attending  the  hero's  progress  through  the  three  estates  of  the 
dead,  we  have  shown,  from  some  ancient  author,  at  almost  every  step, 
the  exact  conformity  of  his  adventures  to  those  of  the  initiated  in  the 
mysteries.  We  shall  now  collect  these  scattered  lights  to  a  point ; 
which  will,  I  am  persuaded,  throw  such  a  lustre  on  this  interpretation, 
as  to  make  the  truth  of  it  irresistible.  To  this  purpose,  I  shall  have 
nothing  to  do,  but  to  transcribe  a  passage  from  an  ancient  writer,  pre- 
served by  Stobaeus ;  which  professes  to  explain  the  exact  conformity 
between  death,  or  a  real  descent  to  the  infernal  regions,  and  initiation, 
where  the  representation  of  those  regions  was  exhibited.  His  words 
are  these  ;  "  The  mind  is  affected  and  agitated  in  death,  just  as  it  is  in 
initiation  into  the  grand  mysteries.  And  word  answers  to  word  as 
well  as  thing  to  thing :  for  Teleytan  is  to  die ;  and  Teleisthai,  to  be 
initiated.  The  first  stage  is  nothing  but  errors  and  uncertainties ; 
laborious  wanderings;  a  rude  and  fearful  march  through  iiight  and 
darkness.  And  now  arrived  on  the  verge  of  death  and  initiation,  every 
thing  wears  a  dreadful  aspect:  it  is  all  horror,  trembling,  and  affright- 
ment.  But  this  scene  once  over,  a  miraculous  and  divine  light  displays 
itself;  and  shining  plains  and  flowery  meadows  open  on  all  hands 
before  them.  Here  they  are  entertained  with  hymns,  and  dances, 
with  the  sublime  doctrines  of  sacred  knowledge,  and  with  reverend 
and  holy  visions.  And  now  become  perfect  and  initiated,  they  are  free 
and  no  longer  under  restraints ;  but  crowned,  and  triumphant,  they 
walk  up  and  dowri  the  regions  of  the  blessed ;  converse  with  pure  and 


173 

holy  men;  and  celebrate  the  sacred  mysteries  at  pleasure.''^ 

The  Son  of  Sirach,  who  was  full  of  Grecian  ideas,  and  hath  embel- 
lished his  admirable  work  of  Ecclesiasticus  with  a  great  deal  of  Gen- 
tile learning,  hath  plainly  alluded,  though  in  few  words,  to  these  circum- 
stances of  initiation,  where  encouraging  men  to  seek  after  wisdom,  he 
says: — "At  first  she  will  walk  with  him  by  crooked  ways,  and  bring 
fear  and  dread  upon  him,  and  torment  him  with  her  discipline,  until 
she  may  trust  his  soul,  and  tri/  him  by  her  laws.  Then  will  she 
return  the  straight  way  unto  him,  and  comfort  him,  and  show  him  her 
secrets." — (Chap.  iv.   17,   18.) 


The  conjecture  of  the  author,  that  an  allusion  is  here  made  to  circumstances  attend- 
ing initiations  into  the  mysteries,  is  corroborated,  or,  I  might  say,  confiimed  by 
masonry;  for  a  known  practice  in  the  one  renders  it  pretty  certain  that  the  same 
existed  in  the  other. 

In  the  royal  arch  degree,  after  the  candidates  have  taken  the  required  oath,  they  are 
told,  that  hey  were  now  obligated  and  received  as  royal  arch  masons,  but  as  ihia 
degree  was  infinitely  more  important  than  any  of  the  preceeding,  ii  was  necessary  for 
them  (as  before  noticed)  to  pass  through  many  trials,  and  travel  in  rough  and  rugged 
ways  to  prove  their  fidelity,  before  they  could  he  entrusted  with  the  more  important 
secrets  of  this  degree.  They  are  futher  told,  that  though  they  could  not  discover  the  path 
they  were  to  travel,  they  were  under  the  direction  of  a  faithful  guide,  who  would 
"hring  the  blind  by  a  way  they  know  not,  and  led  them  m paths  they  had  not  known  ; 
who  would  make  darkness  light  before  them,  and  crooked  things  straight ;  who  would 
do  these  things,  and  not  forsake  them. "    (Isaiah  42,  v.  16.)— Bernard. 


The  progress  finished,  and  every  thing  over,  Eneas  and  his  guide 
are  let  out  again  to  the  upper  regions,  through  the  ivory  gate  of 
dreams.  A  circumstance  borrowed  from  Homer,  and  very  happily 
applied  to  this  subject;  for,  as  Euripides  elegantly  expresses  it, 

"A  dream  is  the  lesser  mysteries  of  death." 

But,  besides  this  of  ivory,  there  was  another  of  horn.  Through 
the  fisrt  issued  fasle  visions ;  and  through  the  latter,  true. 

Servius,  with  the  spirit  of  a  rank  grammarian,  who  seldom  finds 
any  thing  to  stop  at  but  a  solecism  in  expression,  says  very  readily, 
"Vultautem  intelligi,  falsa  esse  omnia  quae  dixit.  He  would  have 
you  understand  by  this,  that  all  he  has  been  saying  is  false  and  ground- 
less. "  Other  critics  give  the  same  solution.  Ruseus,  one  of  the  best, 
may  speak  for  them  all ;  "  When,  therefore,  Virgil  sends  Eneas  forth 
through  the  ivory  gate,  he  clearly  indicates  that  whatever  he  has 
said  in  regard  to  the  infernal  regions,  is  to  be  reckoned  among  the 
&blei." 


174  '  AN    EXAMINATION    OF    THE 

This  interpretation  is  strengthened  by  Virgil's  being  an  Epicu- 
rean ;  and  ipaking  the  same  conclusion  in  his  second  Georgic  t 

'*  Felix,  qui  potuit  cognoscere  causas, 
'  Atque  metus  omnes  et  inexorabile  fatum 

Subjecit  pedibus,  strepitumque  Acherontis  avari  !" 

"  Happy  is  he  who  can  know  the  causes  of  things,  and  tread  under 
foot  all  fear,  inexorable  fate,  and  thtr  noise  of  greedy  Acheron. " 

But  Virgil  wrote,  not  for  the  amusement  of  women  and  children 
over  a  winter's  fire,  in  the  taste  of  the  Milesian  fables ;  but  for  the  use 
of  men  and  citizens ;  to  instruct  them  in  the  duties  of  humanity  and 
society.  The  purpose,  therefore,  of  such  a  writer  when  he  treats  of 
a  future  state,  must  be  to  make  the  doctrine  interesting  to  his  reader, 
and  useful  in  civil  life :  Virgil  hath  done  the  first,  by  bringing  his 
Hero  to  it  through  the  most  perilous  achievement;  and  the  second,  by 
appropriating  the  rewards  and  punishments  of  that  state  to  virtue  and 
to  vice  only. 

The  truth  is,  the  difficulty  can  never  be  gotten  over,  but  by  sup 
posing  the  desent  to  signify  an  initiation  into  the  mysteries.  This  will 
unriddle  the  enigma,  and  restore  the  poet  to  himself  And  if  this  was 
Virgil's  meaning,  it  is  to  be  presumed,  he  would  give  some  private 
mark  to  ascertain  it:  for  which  no  place  was  so  proper  as  the  conclu- 
sion. He  has,  therefore,  w^ith  a  beauty  of  invention  peculiar  to  him- 
felf,  made  this  fine  improvement  on  Homer's  story  of  the  two  gates ; 
and  imagining  that  of  horn  for  true  visions,  and  that  of  ivory  for  false, 
insinuates  by  the  first  the  reality  of  another  state ;  and  by  the  second, 
the  shadowy  representations  of  it  in  the  shows  of  the  mysteries:  Sq 
that,  not  the  things  objected  to  Eneas,  but  the  scenes  of  them  only, 
were  false  ;  as  they  lay  not  in  hell  but  in  the  temple  of  Ceres. 

But  though  the  visions  which  issued  from  the  ivory  gate  were  unsub- 
stantial, as  being  only  representative  ;  yet  I  make  no  question,  but  the 
ivory  gate  itself  was  real.  It  appears,  indeed,  to  be  no  other  than  that 
sumptuous  door  of  the  temple,  through  which  the  initiated  came  out, 
when  the  celebration  was  over.  This  temple  was  of  an  immense  big- 
ness.* 


♦  Ancient  authors  inform  us  that  the  festivals  of  Ceres  sometimes  brought  to  Eleusis 
thirty  thousand  of  the  initiated,  without  including  those  who  came  only  from  motives 
of  curiosity.  These  were  not  present  at  all  the  ceremonies.  To  the  more  secret,  no 
doubt,  were  only  admitted  the  small  number  of  novices  who  every  year  received  the 
last  seal  of  initiation,  and  some  of  those  who  had  received  it  long  before. 

Behind  the  temple,  on  the  western  side,  is  still  to  be  seen  a  terrace,  cut  in  the 
vock  itself  and  raised  eight  or  nine  feet  nbove  the  floor  of  the  temple.    Its  length  is 


SIXTH    BOOK    OF    VIRGIl's    ENEID.  175 

And  now,  having  occasionally,  and  by  parts  only,  said  so  much  of 
these  things,  it  will  not  be  amiss,  in  conlusion  to  give  one  general  and 
concise  idea  of  the  whole,  I  suppose  the  substance  of  the  celebration 
to  be  a  kind  of  drama  of  the  history  of  Ceres,  which  afforded  oppor- 
tunity to  represent  the  three  particulars,  about  which  the  mysteries 
were  principally  concerned.  The  rise  and  establishment  of  civil  society. 
The  doctrine  of  a  future  state  of  rewards  and  punishments.  The 
error  of  polytheism,  and  the  principle  of  the  unity. 

But  here  let  it  be  observed,  that  the  secrets  of  the  mysteries  were 
unfolded  both  by  words  and  actions :  of  which  Aristides,  quoted  above, 
gives  the  reason;  "  Tiiat  so  the  sou7ids  and  sights  might  mutually 
assist  each  other  in  making  an  impression  on  the  minds  of  the  initialed. " 
The  erro')  of  polytheism  therefore  was  as  well  exposed  by  the  dark 
wanderings  in  the  subterraneous  passages  through  v^rhich  the  initiated 
began  his  course,  as  by  the  information  given  him  by  the  hiero- 
phant :  and  the  truth  of  the  unify  as  strongly  illustrated  by  ths  auiop- 
ton  agalma  the  self  seen  image,  the  diffusive  shining  light,  as  by  the 
hymn  of  Orpheus,  or  the  speech  of  Anchises. 

On  the  whole,  if  I  be  not  greatly  decieved,  the  view  in  which 
I  place  this  famous  episode,  not  only  clears  up  a  number  of  difficulties 
inexplicable  on  any  other  scheme;  but  likewise  ennobles,  and  gives 
a  graceful  finishing  to  the  whole  poem  ;  for  now  the  episode  is  seen 
to  be  an  assential  part  of  the  main  subject,  which  is  the  erection  of»  a 
civil  policy  and  a  religion.  For  custom  had  made  initiation  into  the 
mysteries  a  necessary  preparative  to  that  arduous  undertaking. 

To  conclude,  the  principles  here  assumed,  in  explaining  this  famous 
poetical  fiction,  are,  I  presume,  such  as  give  solidity,  as  well  as  light,  to 
what  is  deduced  from  them  ;  and  are,  perhaps,  the  only  principles  f^oni 
which  any  thing  reasonable  can  be  deduced  in  a  piece  of  criticism  of 
this  nature.  For  from  what  I  have  shown  was  taught  and  represented 
in  the  mysteries,  I  infer  that  Eneas's  descent  into  hell  signifies  an  initia- 
tion;  because  of  the  exact  conformit)^  in  all  circumstances,  between 
what  Virgil  relates  of  his  hero's  adventure,  and  what  antiquity  delivers 


about  270  feet,  and  its  breadth  in  some  places  44.    At  the  northern  end  is  to  be  seen 
the  remains  of  a  chapel,  to  go  up  into  -which  there  were  several  steps. 

I  conjecture  that  on  this  terrace  was  exhibited  the  scenery ;  that  it  was  divided 
lenffthwise  into  three  great  galleries,  the  two  first  of  which  represented  the  region  of 
trial,  and  that  of  the  infernal  shades;  and  the  third,  covered  with  earth,  presented 
proves  and  meadows  to  the  view  of  the  initiated,  who  from  thence  went  up  into  the 
chapel,  where  their  eyes  were  dazzled  by  the  splendor  of  the  statue  of  the  goddes*. 
^Travels  of  Anacharsis.)— Edit. 


176  AN    EXAMINATION    OF    THB 

concerning  the   shows  and  doctrines  of  those   mysteries,  into  which 
heroes  were  wont  to  he  initiated. 


The  view  taken  by  bishop  Warburton  of  the  purport  of  the  sixth  book  of  the  Eneid, 
was  new,  and  caluculated  to  excite  the  deep  attention  of  the  learned  world.  Accord- 
ingly various  opinions  were  entertained  for  and  against  the  correctness  of  the  position 
assumed  by  him.  Among  the  critics  who  entered  the  lists  in  opposition  to  the  author, 
was  the  celebrated  historian  Gibbon.  And  this,  he  says,  was  his  first  publication  in 
English.  His  remarks  on  the  subject  are  contained  in  the  third  volume  of  his  miscel- 
laneous work  ;   which  he  introduces  as  follows : 

*'  The  allegorical  interpretation  which  the  bishop  of  Gloucester  has  given  of  the  sixth 
book  of  the  Eneid,  seems  to  have  been  very  favorably  received  by  the  public.  Many 
writers,  both  at  home  and  abroad,  have  mentioned  it  with  approbation,  or  at  least  with 
esteem;  and  I  have  more  than  once  heard  it  alleged,  in  the  conversation  of  scholars,  as 
an  ingenious  improvement  on  the  plain  and  obvious  sense  of  Virgil.  As  such,  itia  not 
undeserving  the  notice  of  a  candid  critic ;  nor  can  the  inquiry  be  void  of  entertainment, 
whilst  Virgil  is  our  constant  theme. 

"I  shall  readily  allow,  what  I  believe  may  in  general  be  true,  that  the  mysteries 
exhibited  a  theatrical  representation  of  all  thai  was  believed  or  imagined  of  the  lower 
world;  that  the  aspirant  was  conducted  through  the  mimic  scenes  of  Erebus,  Tarta- 
rus, and  Elysium;  and  that  a  warm  enthusiast,  in  describing  these  awful  spectacles, 
might  express  himself  as  if  he  had  actually  visited  the  infernal  regions.  It  is  not  sur- 
prising that  the  copy  was  like  the  original;  but  it  still  remains  undetermined,  whether 
Virgil  intended  to  describe  the  original  or  the  copy." 

If  the  copy  was  a  true  representation  of  the  original,  of  what  consequence  is  it  which 
the  poet  took  as  his  sampler  7  But,  as  it  was  more  easy  to  procure  a  correct  description 
of  the  spectacles  exhibited  in  the  temple  of  the  Eleusinian  Ceres,  than  of  what  takes 
place  in  the  regions  below,  it  is  most  probable  Virgil  chose  the  former.  Besides,  it  may 
be  remarked,  that  the  description  of  the  infernal  regions  was  doubtless  first  matured  in 
the  mysteries.  No  author,  it  is  presumed,  had  before  their  establishment,  ever  given 
any  thing  like  a  detailed  account  of  such  place.  They  therefore,  properly  speaking,  are 
the  original,  and  the  parallel  is  to  be  found  in  Virgils  description  of  Eneas's  descent. 

Mr.  Voltaire  showed  great  fickleness  in  his  opinion  on  this  subject ;  sometimes 
giving  it  in  favor  of  Warburton's  hypothesis,  and  at  others,  the  contrary.  Speaking  of 
the  Eleusinian  mysteries,  (tome,  xvi,  p.  162)  he  says,— 

"The  mysterious  ceremonies  of  Ceres  were  an  imitation  of  those  of  Isis.  Those  who 
had  committed  crimes  confessed  and  expiated  them  :  they  fasted,  they  purified  them- 
selves, and  gave  alms.  All  the  ceremonies  were  held  secret,  under  the  religious  sanction 
of  an  oath,  to  render  them  more  venerable.  The  mysteries  were  celebrated  in  the  night 
to  inspire  a  holy  horror.  They  represented  a  kind  of  tragedy  in  which  the  spectacle 
exposed  to  view  the  happiness  of  the  just  and  the  torments  of  the  wicked.  The  greatest 
men  of  antiquity,  the  Platos,  the  Ciceros  have  eulogized  these  mysteries,  which  had  not 
then  degenerated  from  their  primative  purity. 

•'Very  learned  men  have  supposed  that  the  sixth  book  of  the  Eneid  was  a  descrip- 
tion of  what  passed  in  these  secret  and  celebrated  shows."  .Again,  he  says,  "  The  sixth 
book  of  the  Eneid  is  only  a  description  of  the  mysteries  of  Isis  and  the  Eleusinian 
Ceres." 

He  afterwards  recants  this  opinion,  and  says,  "  I  think  I  see  a  description  of  th« 
El«nsinian  Ceres,  in  Claudian's  poem  on  the  Rape  qf  Proterjrinc  much  clearer  than  I 


SIXTH    BOOK    OF    VIRGIL  S    ENEID.  177 

can  see  any  in  the  sixth  book  of  the  Eneid.  Virgil  lived  under  a  prince  who  joined  to  all 
his  other  bad  qualities  that  of  wishing  to  pass  for  a  religious  character ;  who  was  probably 
initiated  in  these  mysteries  himself,  the  better  thereby  to  impose  upon  the  people  :  and 
who  would  not  have  tolerated  what  would  have  been  pretended  to  be  such  decided  pro- 
fanation." 

Why,  Augustus  was  the  hero  of  the  poem ;  it  was  for  his  honor  and  glory  that  the 
poet  labored.  He  was,  says  our  author,  shadowed  in  the  person  of  Eneas ;  and  would 
not,  therefore,  probably  have  been  very  scrupulous  about  a  vague  exposition  of  the 
mysteries,  while  it  tended  to  his  own  glorification. 

"Claudian,  (says  Warburton,)  professes  openly  to  treat  of  the  Eleusinian  mysteries, 
at  a  time  when  they  were  in  little  veneration."  It  is  not  strange,  therefore,  that  Mr. 
Voltaire  should  see  a  description  of  the  Eleusinian  Ceres,  in  Claudian's  poem,  much 
clearer  than  in  the  sixth  book  of  the  Eneid ;  the  author  of  which  evidently  not  intend- 
ing that  his  object  should  be  generally  known. 

Voltaire  seems  frequently  to  have  written  offhand,  without  subjecting  himself  to  the 
trouble  of  rigid  scrutiny  ;  and,  indeed,  he  wrote  so  much,  and  upon  such  a  variety  of 
topics,  that  it  would  appear  impossible  that  he  should  bestow  strict  attention  to  them 
all.  In  the  present  case,  his  first  impresssions  appear  to  have  been  founded  on  the 
opinions  of  the  learned  men  he  alludes  to,  and  he  probably  adopted  a  contrary  belief  in 
like  manner,  without  an  attentive  examination  of  the  subject. 

Bishop  Warburton  was  probably  occupied  many  years  in  the  composition  of  his 
learned  work;  he  had  thoroughly  studied  the  subject,  and  it  is  confidently  believed  that 
this  application  of  the  sixth  book  of  the  Eneid  to  the  mysteries  will  stand  the  test  of  the 
most  severe  criticism. 

The  Abbe  Barthelemi,  in  an  article  on  the  mysteries,  in  his  "  Travels  of  Anacharsis," 
quotes  the  Eneid  in  a  description  of  them,  as  if  no  question  then  existed  in  regard  to 
Virgil's  views* 


23 


CHAPTER    IV. 

THE      METAMORPHOSIS     OF     APULEIUS  :      AND      THE    AMOUR    OF    CUPID 
ANI>    PSYCHE. 

Thus  far  concerning  the  use  of  the  mysteries  to  society.  How 
essential  they  were  esteemed  to  religion,  we  may  understand  by  the 
Metamorphosis  of  Apulcius  ;  a  book,  indeed,  which  from  its  very  first 
appearance  hath  passed  for  a  trivial  fable.  Capitolinus,  in  the  life  of 
Clodius  Albinus,  where  he  speaks  of  that  kind  of  tales  which  disconcert 
the  gravity  of  philosophers,  tells  us  that  Severus  could  not  bear  with 
patience  the  honors  the  Senate  had  conferred  on  Albinus  ;  especially 
their  distinguishing  him  with  the  title  oflearned,  who  was  grown  old  in 
the  study  of  old  wives-fables,  such  as  the  Milesian-Punic  tales  of  his 
countryman  and  favorite,  Apuleius. 

The  writer  of  the  Metamorphosis,  however,  was  one  of  the  gravest 
and  most  "vdrtuous,  as  well  as  most  learned  philosophers  of  his  age. 
Albinus  appears  to  have  gone  further  into  the  true  character  of  this 
work,  than  his  rival  Severus.  And  if  we  may  believe  Marcus  Aure- 
lius,  who  calls  Albinus,  "  A  man  of  experience,  of  demure  life,  and 
grave  morals,"  he  was  not  a  man  to  be  taken  with  such  trifling  amuse- 
ments as  Milesian  fables.  His  fondness  therefore  for  the  Metamorpho- 
sis of  Apuleius  shows  that  he  considered  it  in  another  light.  And 
who  so  likely  to  be  let  into  the  author's  true  design,  as  Albinus,  who 
lived  very  near  his  time,  and  was  of  Adrumetum  in  the  neighborhood 
of  Carthage,  where  Apuleius  sojourned  and  studied,  and  was  distin- 
guished with  public  honors  ?  The  work  is  indeed  of  a  different  char- 
acter from  what  some  ancients  have  represented  it ;  and  even  from  what 
modern  critics  have  pretended  to  discover  of  it.  Those  ancients,who  stuck 
in  the  outside,  considered  it,  without  refinement,  as  an  idle  fable ;  the 
moderns,  who  could  not  reconcile  a  work  of  that  nature  to  the  gravity 
of  the  author's  character,  have  supposed  it  a  thing  of  more  importance, 
and  no  less  than  a  general  satire  on  the  vices  of  those  times. 

But  this  is  far  short  of  the  matter.  The  author's  main  purpose 
was  not  to  satirize  the  specific  vices  of  his  age,  though  to  enliven  his 
fable,  and  for  the  better  carrying  on  his  story,  he  hath  employed  many 
circumstances  of  this  kind,  but  to  recommend  Pagan  religion,  as  the 
only  curd  for  all  vices  whatsoever. 

To  give  what  we  have  to  say  its  proper  force,  we  must  consider 


THE    METAMORPHOSIS    ETC.  179 

the  real  character  ot  the  writer.  Apuleius,  of  Madaura  in  Africa,  was 
a  devoted  Platonist ;  and,  like  the  Platonists  of  that  age,  an  inveterate 
enemy  to  Christianity.  His  zeal  for  the  honor  of  philosophy  is  seen 
in  that  solemn  affirmation,  when  convened  before  a  court  of  justice, 
"  I  have  never  derogated  ought  from  the  honor  of  philosophy,  which 
is  more  precious  to  me  than  life."  His  superstitious  attachment  to  the 
religion  of  his  country  is  seen  in  his  immoderate  fondness  for  the  mys- 
teries. He  was  initiated,  as  he  tells  us,  into  almost  all  of  them  ;  and  in 
some,  bore  the  most  distinguished  offices.  In  his  Apology  before  the 
proconsul  of  Africa,  he  says,  "  Will  you  have  me  relate  what  kind  of 
things  those  were,  which  wrapped  up  in  a  napkm,  I  confided  to  the 
house  of  Pontianus  ?-  You  shall  be  allowed.  I  have  been  initiated 
in  Greece  into  many  mysteries.  I  carefully  guard  certain  of  their 
signs  and  tokens  which  have  been  committed  to  me  by  the  priests.  I 
say  nothing  unusual,  nothing  unknown.  ye  who  are  present  know 
what  thing  it  is  of  father  Bacchus  Symmistag  which  you  keep  concealed 
at  home,  and  silently  venerate  a,paTt  from  the  profane.  But  I,  as  I 
have  said,  through  love  of  truth,  and  duty  to  the  gods,  have  learnt 
numerous  mysteries,  and  very  many  rites,  and  various  ceremonies. 
Nor  do  I  make  up  this  for  the  occasion  :  but  it  is  about  three  years 
ago  that  shortly  after  my  arrival  at  Oea,  in  a  public  discourse  on  the 
majesty  of  iEsculapius  I  made  some  declaration,  and  enumerated  what- 
ever mysteries  I  knew.  That  discourse  is  very  celebrated  ;  is  generally 
Tead;  is  in  the  hands  of  every  body, — commended  to  the  pious  people 
of  Oea,  not  so  much  by  my  eloquence,  as  by  the  mention  of  <^scula- 
pius.  Can  it  then  appear  strange  to  any  body  who  has  any  knowledge 
of  religion,  that  a  man  versed  in  so  many  mysteries  of  the  gods  should 
keep  certain  holy  trifles  in  his  house  ?  I  am  accustomed  wherever  I 
go  to  take  with  me  the  image  of  some  god  packed  up  among  my  books, 
and  on  festivals  to  worship  it  with  incense  and  wine,  and  sometimes 
with  sacrifices." 

His  great  devotion  to  Paganism,  therefore,  must  needs  have  been 
attended  with  an  equal  aversion  to  Christianity  ;  and  it  is  more  than 
probable,  that  the  oration  he  speaks  of  as  made  in  honor  of  iEsculapius, 
was  in  the  number  of  those  invectives,  at  that  time  so  well  received  by 
the  enemies  of  our  holy  faith.  For,  not  to  insist  on  the  success  of  his 
oration,  which,  he  tells  us,  was  in  every  body's  hands,  a  thing  common 
to  discourses  on  subjects  that  engage  the  public  attention,  but  rarely 
the  fortune  of  such  stale  ware  as  panegyrics  on  a  God  long  worn  into 
an  establishment ;  not,  I  say,  to  insist  upon  this,  we  may  observe  that 


181 


THE    METAMORPHOSIS 


iEsculapius  was  one  of  those  ancient  heroes,  who  were  employed,  by 
the  defenders  of  Paganism,  to  oppose  to  Jesus  ;  and  the  circumstances 
of  ^sculapius's  story  made  him  the  fittest  of  any  in  fabulous  antiquity, 
for  that  purpose. 

Having  seen  what  there  was  in  the  common  passion  of  his  sect,  and 
in  his  own  fond  mode  of  superstition,  to  indispose  Apuleius  to  Chris- 
tianity, let  us  inquire  what  private  provocation  he  might  have  to  preju- 
dice him  against  it :  for,  a  private  provocation,  I  am  persuaded,  he  had ; 
occasioned  by  a  personal  injury  done  him  by  one  of  this  profession  ; 
which,  I  suppose,  did  not  a  little  contribute  to  exasperate  his  bigotry. 
He  had  married  a  rich  widow,  against  the  will  of  her  first  husband's 
relations  ;  who  endeavored  to  set  aside  the  m.arriage  on  pretence  of 
his  employing  sorcery  and  enchantments  to  engage  her  affections.  Of 
this,  he  was  judicially  accused  by  his  wife's  brother-in-law,  Licinius 
iEmilianus,  before  the  Proconsul  of  Africa.  Now  his  accuser,  if  I  am 
not  much  mistaken,  w^as  a  Christian,  though  this  interesting  circum- 
stance hath  escaped  his  commentators. 

Now  irreligion  and  atheism,  we  know,  was  the  name  Christianity 
at  that  time  went  by,  for  having  dared  to  renounce  the  whole  family  of 
the  gentile  gods  in  a  lump.  ^Emilianus  had  made  such  clear  work^ 
that  there  was  not  so  much  as  an  anointed  stone,  or  a  tree  adorned 
vnth.  consecrated  garlands,  to  be  found  throughout  his  whole  Farm. 
That  the  Atheism  of  ^milianus  was  of  this  sort,  and  no  courtley  or 
philosophic  impiety,  appears  from  his  character  and  station.  He  was 
neither  a  fine  gentleman  or  a  profound  inquirer  into  nature  ;  charac- 
ters indeed  which  are  sometimes  found  to  be  above  religion  ;  but  a 
mere  rustic  in  his  life  and  manners.  Now  plain  unpolished  men  in 
such  a  station  are  never  without  some  religion  or  other  ;  when 
we  find  iEmilianus,  therefore,  not  of  the  established,  we  must 
needs  conclude  him  to  be  a  sectary  and  a  Christian.  His  neg- 
lect of  his  country  gods  was  not  a  mere  negative  affront ;  of  forgetful- 
ness.  He  gloried  in  being  their  despiser  ;  and  took  kindly  to  the 
name  of  Mezentius,  as  a  title  of  honor, — (alterum,  quod  libentius  audit, 
obdeorum  contemptum,  Mezentius,)  which  I  would  consider  as  a  fur- 
ther mark  of  a  Christian  convict.  He  even  held  it  an  abomination  so 
much  as  to  put  his  hand  to  his  lips,  (according  to  the  mode  of  adora- 
tion in  those  times,)  when  he  passed  by  a  heathen  temple;  (nefas  habet 
adorandi  gratia  manum  l&bris  admovere,)  the  most  characteristic  mark 
of  z.  primitive  confessor,  by  which  he  could  never  be  mistaken  ;  nor, 
one  would  think,  so  long  overlooked. 


OF  APULEIUS  180 

The  aversion  therfore,  which  Apuleius  had  contracted  to  his 
Christian  accuser,  and  we  see,  by  his  apology,  it  was  in  no  ordinary 
degree,  would  without  doubt  increase  his  prejudice  to  that  religion.  I 
am  persuaded  he  gave  the  character  of  the  Baker's  wife,  in  his  golden  ass 
for  no  other  reason  than  to  outrage  our  holy  faith.  He  draws  her 
stained  with  all  the  vices  that  could  fall  to  the  share  of  a  woman  ;  and 
then,  to  finish  all,  he  makes  her  a  Christian. 

Let  us  see  now  how  this  would  influence  his  writings.  There 
was  nothing  the  Philosophers  of  that  time  had  more  at  heart, 
especially  the  Platonists  and  Pythagoreans,  than  the  support  of  sink 
ing  Paganism.  This  service,  as  hath  been  occasionally  remarked 
they  performed  in  various  ways  and  manners :  some  by  allegorizing 
their  theology;  some  by  spiritualizing  their  philosophy;  and  some 
as  Jamblicus  and  Philostratus,  by  writing  the  lives  of  their  Heroes,  to 
oppose  to  that  of  Christ;  others  again,  as  Porphyry,  with  this  view, 
collected  their  oracles;  or  as  Melanthius,  Menander,  Hicesius,  and 
Sotades  wrote  descriptive  encomiums  on  their  Mysteries.  Which  last, 
as  we  shall  now  show,  was  the  province  undertaken  by  Apuleius;  his 
Metamorphosis  being  nothing  else  but  one  continued  recommendation 
of  them. 

But  let  us  enquire  into  the  motives  our  author  might  have  for  enter 
ing  at  all  into  the  defence  of  Paganism  :  His  reasons  for  choosing  this 
topic  of  defence,  the  recommendation  of  the  mysteries. 

As  to  his  defence  of  paganism  in  general,  we  may  observe,  that 
works  of  this  kind  were  very  much  in  fashion,  especially  amongst  the 
philosophers  of  our  author's  sect.  He  was,  as  we  have  seen,  most  super- 
stitiously  devoted  to  pagan  worship:  and,  he  bore  a  personal  spite 
and  prejudice  to  the  Christian  profession. 

As  to  his  making  the  defence  of  the  mysteries  his  chioce,  still  stron- 
ger reasons  may  be  assigned.  These  were  the  rites  to  which  he  was  so 
peculiarly  devoted,  that  1ie  had  contrived  to  be  initiated  into  all  the 
mysteries  of  note,  in  the  Roman  world;  and  in  several  of  them  had 
borne  the  most  distinguished  offices.  The  mysteries  being  at  this  time 
become  extremely  corrupt,  and  consequently,  in  discredit,  needed  an 
able  and  zealous  apologist :  both  of  which  qualities  met  eminently  in 
Apuleius.  The  corruptions  wer^  of  two  kinds,  debaucheries  and 
magic.  Their  debaucheries  we  have  taken  notice  of,  above :  their 
magic  will  be  considered  hereafter.  But,  our  author's  close  attach- 
ment to  mysterious  rites  was,  without  question,  the  very  thing  that 
occasioned  all  those  suspicions  and  reports,  which  ended  in  an  accusa- 


182  THE    METAMORPHOSIS 

tion  of  magic:  and  considering  what  liath  been  said  of  the  corrupt 
state  of  the  mysteries,  the  reader  will  not  wonder  at  it. 

Such  then  being  the  general  character  of  the  mysteries,  and  of  this 
their  great  devotee,  nothing  was  more  natural  than  his  projecting  their 
defence ;  which  at  the  same  time,  that  it  concurred  to  the  support  of 
paganism  in  general,  would  vindicate  his  own  credit,  together  with  an 
institution  of  which  he  was  so  immoderately  fond.  And  the  following 
considerations  are  sufficient  to  show,  that  the  Metamorphosis  was  writ- 
ten after  his  Apology :  for,  his  accusers  never  once  mention  the  fable 
of  the  golden  ass  to  support  their  charge  of  magic,  though  they  were 
in  great  want  of  proofs,  and  this  lay  so  ready  for  their  purpose.  He 
positively  asserts  before  the  tribunal  of.  Maximus  Claudius  that  he  had 
never  given  the  least  occasion  to  suspect  him  of  magic :  "  Nusquam 
passus  sum  vel  exiguam  suspicionem  magiae  consistere.  " 

Now  antiquity  considered  initiation  into  the  mysterits  as  a  delivery 
from  a  living  death  of  vice,  brutality,  and  misery,  and  the  beginning  of 
a  new  life  of  virtue,  reason,  a?id  happiness.     This  therefore,  was  the 
very  circumstance  which  our  author  chose  for  the  subject  of  his  recom 
mendation. 

And  as  in  the  mysteries,  their  moral  and  divine  truths  were  repre- 
sented in  shows  and  allegories,  so  in  order  to  comply  with  this 
method  of  instruction,  and  in  imitation  of  the  ancient  masters  of  wisdom, 
who  borrowed  their  manner  of  teaching  from  thence,  he  hath  artfully 
insinuated  his  doctrine  in  an  agreeable  fable;  and  the  fittest  one 
could  conceive  for  his  purpose,  as  will  be  seen  when  we  come  to  exam- 
ine it. 

The  foundation  of  this  allegory  was  a  Milesian  fable,  a  species  of 
polite  trifling  then  much  in  vogue,  and  not  very  unlike  the  modern 
Arabian  tales.  To  allure  his  readers,  therefore,  with  the  promise  of 
a  fashionable  work,  he  introduces  his  Metamorphosis  in  this  manner ' 
*'  And  I  too  will  deliver  to  you  various  fables  in  this  Milesian  style, 
and  delight  your  ears  in  a  gentle  whisper;"  plainly  intimating  that  there 
was  someting  of  more  consequence  at  bottom.  But  they  took  him  at 
his  word :  and,  never  troubled  their  heads  about  a  further  meaning. 
The  outside  engaged  all  their  attention,  and  sufficiently  delighted 
them  ;  as  we  may  gather  from  the  early  title  it  bore  of  Asirius  Aureus  :* 


♦  From  the  beginning  of  one  of  Pliny's  epistles,  I  suspect  that  AureoB  was  the  com- 
mon title  given  to  the  Milesian,  and  such  like  tales  as  strollers  used  to  tell  for  a  piece 
of  money  to  the  rabble  in  a  circle.  Pliny's  words  are  these— assem  para  et  accipe 
aurcam  fabulam.  1.  ii,  Ep.  20. 


OF  APULKIUS.  183 

unless  we  will  rather  suppose  it  to  have  been  bestowed  by  the  few  intel- 
iicfent  readers  in  the  secret:  for,  in  spite  of  the  author,  a  secret  it  was, 
and  so  all  along  continued. 

Upon  one  of  these  popular  fables,  he  chose  to  ingraft  his  instruc 
tion ;  taking  a  celebrated  tale  from  the  collections  of  one  Lucius  of 
Patrae  ;  who  relates  his  transformation  into  an  Ass,  and  his  adventures 
under  that  shape.  Lucian  has  epitomised  this  story,  as  Apuleius  seems 
to  have  paraphrased  it:  and  the  subject  being  a  metamorphosis,  it  admi- 
rably fitted  his  purpose ;  as  the  metempsychosis  to  which  that  supersti- 
tion belongs,  was  one  of  the  fundamental  doctrines  of  the  mysteries. 

The  fable  opens  with  the  representation  of  a  young  man,  person- 
ated by  himself,  sensible  of  the  advantages  of  virtue  and  'piety,  but  im- 
moderately fond  of  pleasure,  and  as  curious  of  magic.  He  gives  a 
loose  to  his  vicious  appetite,  and  the  crimes  and  follies  into  which  they 
lead  him  soon  ends  in  his  transformation  to  a  brute. 

This  contrivance  of  the  introductory  part  is  artful;  and  finely  insinu- 
ates the  great  moral  of  the  piece,  that  brutality  attends  vice  as  its  pun' 
ishment :  and  punishment  by  actual  transformation  was  keeping  up  to 
the  popular  opinion. 

St.  Austin  permitted  himself  to  doubt  whether  Apuleius' s  account  of 
his  change  into  an  ass  was  not  a  true  relation.  I  shall  say  nothing  to 
this  extravagant  doubt,  but  only  observe,  that  it  appears  from  hence,  that 
St.  Austin  esteemed  Apuleius  a  profligate  in  his  manners,  and  addicted 
to  the  superstitions  of  magic. 

But  to  proceed  with  his  plan.  Having  now  shown  himself  thoroughly 
brutalized  by  his  crimes  :  he  goes  on  to  represent  at  large  the  miseries 
of  that  condition,  in  a  long  detail  of  his  misadventures  ;  in  the  course  of 
which  he  fell,  by  turns,  under  the  dominion  of  every  vicious  passion  ; 
though  the  incidents  are  chiefly  confined  to  the  mischiefs  of  unlawful 
love :  and  this,  with  much  judgement,  as  one  of  the  principal  ends  of 
the  mysteries  was  to  curb  and  subdue  this  inordinance,  which  brings 
more  general  and  lasting  misery  upon  mankind  than  all  the  other. 
And  as  it  was  the  great  moral  of  his  piece  to  show  that  pure  religion, 
such  as  a  Platonic  philosopher  esteemed  pure,  was  the  only  remedy 
for  human  corruption ;  so,  to  prevent  the  abuse  or  mistake  of  this 
capital  principle,  he  takes  care  to  inform  us,  that  an  attachment  to  super- 
stitious and  corrupt  religion  does  but  plunge  the  wretched  victim  into 
still  greater  miseries.  This  Jie  finely  illustrates,  in  the  history  of  his 
adventures  with  the  begging  priests  of  Cyhelc ;  whose  enormities 
are  related  in  the  eighth  and  ninth  books ;  and  whose  corrupt  myste- 


184  THE    METAMORPHOSIS 

xies  are  intended  as  a  contrast  to  the  pure  rites  of  Isis ;  with  which 
in  a  very  studied  description  and  encomium  he  concludes  the  Fable. 

In  the  mean  time,  matters  growing  from  bad  to  worse,  and  Lucius 
plunged  deeper  and  deeper  in  the  sink  of  vice,  his  affairs  come  to  a 
crisis.  For  this  is  one  great  beauty  in  the  conduct  of  the  fable,  that 
every  change  of  station,  while  he  remains  a  brute,  makes  his  condition 
still  more  wretched  and  deplorable.  And  being  now  about  to  perpe- 
trate one  of  the  most  shocking  enormities  ;  Nature,  though  so  deeply 
brutalized,  revolts ;  he  abhors  the  idea  of  his  projected  crime  ;  he  evades 
his  keepers ;  he  flies  to  the  sea-shore ;  and,  in  this  solitude,  begins  to 
reflect  more  seriously  on  his  lost  condition.  This  is  finely  imagined, 
for  we  often  see  men,  even  after  a  whole  life  of  horrors,  come  suddenly 
to  themselves  on  the  hideous  aspect  of  some  monster-vice  too  frightful 
even  for  an  hardened  conscience  to  endure.  Nor  is  it  with  less  judg- 
ment that  the  author  makes  these  beginnings  of  reformation  confirmed 
by  solitude ;  when  the  unhappy  victim  of  pleasure  hath  broken  loose 
from  the  companions  and  partakers  of  his  follies. 

And  now,  a  more  intimate  acquaintace  of  his  hopeless  state  obliges 
him  to  fly  to  heaven  for  relief.  The  moon  is  in  full  splendor,  and  the 
awful  silence  of  the  night  inspires  him  with  sentiments  of  religion. 

He  then  purifies  himself  in  the  manner  prescribed  by  Pythagoras, 
the  philosopher  most  addicted  to  initiations  of  all  the  early  sages  ;  as 
Apuleius,  of  all  the  later ;  and  so  makes  his  prayer  to  the  moon  or  Isis, 
invoking  her  by  her  several  names  of  the  Eleusinian  Ceres,  the  celestial 
Venus,  Diana  and  Proserpine,  when  betaking  himself  to  repose,  she 
appears  to  him  in  a  dream,  under  that  shining  image  so  much  spoken 
of  by  the  mystics,  as  representing  the  divine  nature  in  general.* 

These  several  symbolic  attributes,  [as  described  by  Apuleius, 
but  here  omitted,]  the  lucid  round,  the  snakes,  the  ears  of  corn, 
and  the  sistrum,  represent  the  tutelar  Deities  of  the  Hecataean,  Bac- 
chic, Eleusinian  and  Isiac  mysteries."  That  is,  the  mystic'rites  in 
general :  for  whose  sake  the  allegory  was  invented.  As  the  black 
Palla  in  which  she  is  wrapped,  embroidered  with  a  silver  moon,  and 
stars,  denotes  the  time,  in  which  the  mysteries  were  celebrated,  namely 


*  Artemidorus  says,  that  for  a  man  to  dream  that  Ceres  Proserpine,  or  Bacchus 
appears  to  him,  betokens  some  extraordinary  good  fortune  to  happen  to  him.  This 
popular  divination  by  dreams  was  apparently  founded  on  the  common  opinion  of  the 
advantages  attending  initiation  into  the  mysteries.  The  ancient  Onirocritics  were  not 
founded  on  the  arbitary  fancies  of  the  impostors  who  professed  that  art,  but  on  the 
customs  and  superstitions  of  the  times,  and  with  a  principal  reference  to  the  Egyptian 
Hieroglyphics  and  mysteries. 


or    APULEIUS.  i8S 

in  the  dead  of  night ;  which  was  so  constant  and  inseparable  a  circum- 
stance, that  the  author  calls  initiation,  noctis  societas* 

"Behold,  Lucius,  I,  moved  by  thy  prayers,  am  present  with  thee; 
I,  who  am  Nature,  the  parent  of  things,  the  queen  of  all  the  elements 
the  primordial  progeny  of  ages,  the  Supreme  of  Divinities,  the  sover- 
eign of  the  spirits  of  the  dead,  the  first  of  the  celestials,  and  the  uniform 
resemblance  of  gods  and  goddesses.  I  who  rule  by  my  nod  the  lumi' 
nous  summits  of  the  heavens,  the  salubrious  breezes  of  the  ^ea,  and  the 
deplorable  silences  of  the  realms  beneath:  and  whose  one  divinity  the 
whole,  orb  of  the  earth  venerates  under  a  manifold  form,  by  different 
rites,  and  a  variety  of  appalletions.  Hence  the  primogenial  Phry- 
gians call  me  Pessinuntica,  the  mother  of  the  gods ;  the  Attic  Abori- 
gines, Cecrepian  Minerva;  the  floating  Cyprians,  Paphian  Venus; 
.  the  arrow-bearing  Cretans,  Diana  Dictynna ;  the  three  tongued  Sici- 
lians, Stygian  Proserpine ;  and  the  Eleusinians,  the  ancient  goddess 
Ceres.  Some  also  call  me  Juno,  others  Bellona,  others  Hecate,  and 
others  Rhamnusia.  And  those  who  are  illuminated  by  the  incipient 
rays  of  that  divinity,  the  sun,  w^hen  he  rises,  viz.  the  Ethiopians,  the 
Arii,  and  Egyptians  skilled  in  ancient  learning,  worshipping  me  by 
ceremonies  perfectly  appropriate,  call  me  by  my  true  name  queen 
Isis.  "  This  was  exactly  adapted  to  the  design  of  the  mysteries  ;  and 
preparatory  to  the  communication  of  the  aporreta.  It  had  likewise 
this  further  use,  to  patch  up  and  recommend  the  pagan  religions;  by 
showing  that  their  Polytheisvi  consisted  in  nothing  else  than  in  giving 
the  Supreme  God  various  names,  merely  expressive  of  his  various 
attributes. ~  This  was  the  fashionable  coloring,  which,  after  the 
appearance  of  Christianity,  the  advocates  of  paganism  employed  to 
blanch  their  Idolatry.  I  will  only  observe  further  that  the  words 
the  Egyptians  worshipping  me  with  ceremonies  perfectly  appropriate, 
insinuate  what  was  true,  that  all  mysterious  worship  came  first 
from  Egypt;  this  people  having  penetrated  furthest  into  the  nature 
of  the  gods :  as  the  calling  her  who  represents  the  mysteries  in  general 
rerum  natura  parens,  shows  plainly  what  were  the  aporreta  of  them  all. 

Parent  Nature  then  reveals  to  Lucius  the  means  of  his  recovery. 
Her  festival  was  on  the  following  day  ;  when  there  was  to  be  a  pro- 

*  Masonic  rpeetings  are  nocturnal,  and  the » aprons  of  the  fraternity  are  generally 
ornamented  with  figures  of  the  sun,  moon,  and  seven  stars,  or  planets;  which  show* 
that  the  principal  design  of  the  institution  was  something  very  different  from  the 
mechanical  occupation  of  masonry.  Thev  show,  indeed,  that  it  was  founded  on  Sahe 
t>7n,  the  worship  of  the  stars.— Edit. 

•24 


186  MtTAMOKPHOSIS 

cession  of  her  votaries.  The  priest  who  led  it  up,  would  have  a  chaplet 
of  roses  in  his  hand,  which  had  the  virtue  to  restore  him  t©  his  former 
shape.  But  as  breaking  through  a  habit  of  vice  is,  of  all  things,  the 
most  difficult ;  she  adds  encouragements  to  her  promises,  "  Nor  should 
3''0u  fear  any  thing  pertaining  to  my  concerns  as  difficult.  For  in  this 
very  same  moment  of  time  in  which  I  come  to  you,  being  there  also 
present,  I  order  my  priest  in  a  dream  to  do  those  things  which  are  to  be 
done  hereafter."  Alluding,  to  what  was  taught  in  the  mysteries,  that, 
the  assistance  of  Heaven  was  always  present  to  second  the  efforts  of 
virtue.  But  in  return  for  the  favor  of  releasing-  him  from  his  brutal 
shape,  that  is  of  reforming  his  manners  by  initiation,  she  tells  him  she 
expected  the  service  of  his  whole  life ;  and  this,  the  mysteries  required. 
Nor  should  his  service  go  unrewarded,  for  he  should  have  a  place 
in  Elysium  hereafter;  and  this,  too,  the  mysteries  promised. 

Lucius  is  at  lenght  confirmed  in  his  resolution  of  aspiring  to  a  life 
of  virtue.  And  on  this  change  of  his  dispositions,  and  entire  conquest 
of  his  passions,  the  author  finely  represents  all  nature  as  putting  on  a 
new  face  of  cheerfulness  and  gaiety.  "All  things  likewise,  indepen- 
dent of  my  peculiar  joy,  seemed  to  me  to  exult  with  such  great  hilarity 
that  I  might  have  thought  that  cattle  of  every  kind,  every  house,  and 
even  the  day  itself,  rejoiced  with  a  serene  countenance.  "  And  to  enjoy 
Nature,  in  these  her  best  conditions,  was  the  boasted  privilege  of  the 
Initiated,  as  we  may  see  from  a  Chorus  in  the  Frogs  of  Aristo- 
phanes. 

And  now  the  procession,  in  honor  of  Isis,  begins.  Where  by  the 
way,  we  must  observe,  that  the  two  first  days  of  the  celebration  of 
the  Eleusinian  mysteries  are  plainly  described :  the  one  called  agyrmos, 
from  the  multitude  assembled ;  the  other  alase  wy«iai,  from  the  pro- 
fession made  to  the  sea-shore.  "  Then  there  was  an  influx  of  a  crowd 
of  those  who  had  been  initiated  in  the  sacred  rites  of  the  goddess, 
respledent  with  the  pure  whiteness  of  linen  garments.  In  the  next 
place,  the  images  of  the  gods,  carried  by  the  priests  of  Isis,  pro- 
ceeded, not  disdaining  to  w^alk  with  the  feet  of  men ;  this  terriffically 
raising  a  canine  head ;  but  that  being  the  messenger  of  the  infernal 
gods,  and  of  those  in  the  realms  beneath,  with  an  erect  face,  partly 
black,  and  partly  of  a  golden  color,  bearing  in  his  lefV  hand  a  cadu- 
ceus,  and  shaking  in  his  right  hand  branches  of  the  flourishing  palm 
tree ;  whose  footsteps,  a  crow,  in  an  erect  position,  immediately  followed. 
This  crow  was  the  prolific  resemblance  of  the  all-parent  goddess,  and 
was  carried  on  the  sholders  of  one  of  the  blessed  servtLnts  of  this  divinity 


OF  APULEIUS  187 

and  who  acted  the  part  of  a  mimic  as  he  walked ;  another  carried  a 
cista  or  chest,  containing  arcana,  and  perfectly  concealing  the  mystic 
symbols  of  a  magnificent  religion.  And  another  bore  in  his  happy 
bosom  the  venerable  effigies  of  the  Supreme  Divinity,  which  was  not 
similar  to  any  cattle,  bird  or  wild  beast,  nor  even  to  man  ;  but  being 
venerable  for  the  subtilty  by  which  it  was  invented,  and  also  for  its 
novelty,  was  an  ineffable  indication  of  a  more  sublime  religion^  and 
which  was  to  be  concealed  with  the  greatest  silence.  "*  The  priest  or 
hierophant  of  the  rites  leads  up  the  train  of  the  initiated  with  a  garland 
of  roses  in  his  hand.  Lucius  approaches,  devours  the  roses,  and  is 
according  to  the  promise  of  the  goddess^  restored  to  his  natural  form, 
by  which,  as  we  have  said,  no  more  was  meant  than  a  change  of  man- 
ners from  vice  to  virtue.  And  this  the  author  plainly  intimates  by 
making  the  goddess  thus  address  him  under  his  brutal  form,  *'  Imme- 
diately divest  yourself  of  the  hide  of  that  worst  of  beasts,  and  which  for 
some  time  since  has  been  to  me  detestable.  "  For  an  Ass  was  so  far 
from  being  detestable,  that  it  was  employed  in  the  celebration  of  her 
rites ;  and  was  ever  found  in  the  retinue  of  Osiris  or  Bacchus.  The 
garland  plainly  represents  that  which  the  aspirants  were  crowned  with 
at  their  initiation  ;  just  as  the  virtue  of  the  loses  designs  the  mysteries. 
At  his  transformation  he  had  been  told,  that  roses  were  tp  restore  him 
to  humanity  t  so  that  amidst  all  his  adventures,  he  had  still  this  remedy 
in  view. 

Our  author  proceeds  to  tell  us,  that  the  people  wondered  at  this 
instantaneous  metamorphosis.  "  The  people  admire,  and  the  religious 
venerate  so  evident  an  indication  of  the  power  of  the  Supreme 
Divinity,  and  the  magnificence  and  facility  of  my  restoration."     For 

*  I  have  given  a  more  full  account  of  this  procession,  from  the  work  of  Apuleius, 
than  is  copied  by  Warburton.  In  the  processions  of  the  London  masons,  before  noticed, 
at  laying  the  foundation  stone,  and  the  dedication,  of  freemasons'  hall,  in  1775,  and  1776, 
among  other  things,  were  carried,  three  pitchers,  containiug  corn,  wine,  and  oil;  the 
bible ;  wand  or  caduceus ;  a  cista  or  chest,  here  called  the  lodge  &c.  After  the  cere- 
mony of  laying  the  foundation  stone,  "the  brethren  proceeded  through  the  city  in  pro- 
cession, without  exposing  any  of  the  ensignia  of  the  order. "     Smith. — Edit. 

tThe  modern  masomic  degree  of  Rose-Cross  seems  to  allude  to  this  ridiculous  con- 
ceit regarding  the  virtue  of  roses.  The  following  dialogue  takes  place  (between  the 
master  and  senior  warden : — "Do  you  know  the  Pelican? — I  do. — What  does  it  sig- 
nify ? — Among  us  it  is  a  symbol  of  the  Saviour  of  the  world,  and  of  his  'perfect  human' 
ity.  What  is'  the  object  of  the  degree  of  Knie^hts  of  the  Rose-Cross?— To  lead  us  to 
respect  the  decrees  of  the  Most  High,  who  is  able  to  reinstamp  his  image  on  us."  To 
reinstamp  is  here  intended  to  signify  the  restoration  to  a  former  state ;  which  is  exact- 
ly what  occurred  to  Lucius,  when  in  his  assine  condition,  by  the  eating  of  roses.  The 
Pelican  is  a  Roman  Catholic  symbol  of  the  Saviour,  arising  from  the  fable  that-this 
bird  perforates  its  breast,  and  suffers  its  young  to  feed  upon  the  blood  issuing  therefrom. 

The  Saviour,  in  the  ritual  of  the  Catholic  Church,  is  thus  addressed:  "  O  Pelican  Je- 
sus! cleanse  us  tcith  thy  blood,  one  drop  of  which  is  sufficient  to  purify  a  world.^*       ^  ^ 

The^degraeof  Rose-Cross  was  invented  in  France,  a  Roman  Catholic  country.— Edii. 


188  METAMORPHOSIS 

the  mysteries  boasted  the  power  of  giving  a  sudden  and  entire 
change  to  the  mind  and  aifections.  And  the  advocates  of  paganism 
against  Christianity  used  to  oppose  this  boast  to  the  real  and  miracu- 
lous efficacy  of  grace. 

As  soon  as  Lucius  had  recovered  the  integrity  of  his  nature  by  ini- 
tiation, the  priest  covers  him,  naked  as  he  was,  with  a  linen  garment. 
A  habit  always  bestowed  upon  the  aspirant,  on  his  admission  to  the 
mysteries ;  the  rationale  of  which,  Apuleius  himself  gives  us  in  his 
apology.*  When  all  was  over,  the  priest  accosts  his  penitent  in  the  fol. 
lowing  manner.  "  O  Lucius !  you  have  at  length  arrived  at  the  port  of 
quiet,  and  the  altar  of  pity,  having  endured  many  and  various  labors, 
and  great  tempests  of  fortune,  and  been  tossed  about  by  mighty  waves  of 
calamity.  Assume  now  a  more  joyful  countenance,  and  more  adapted 
to  that  white  garment  which  you  wear.  Attend  the  pomp  of  your 
saviour  goddess  with  triumphant  steps.  Let  the  irreligious  see,  let  them 
ste  and  acknowledge  their  error.  Behold  Lucius,  rejoking  in  the 
providence  of  the  great  Isis,  and  freed  from  his  pristine  miseries,  tri. 
umphs  in  his  own  fortune,"! 

Here  the  moral  of  the  fable  is  delivered  in  plain  terms ;  and,  in  this 
moral,  all  we  have  advanced,  concerning  the  purpose  of  the  work,  fully 
confirmed.  It  is  expressly  declared,  that  vice  and  inordinate  curiosity 
were  the  causes  of  Lucius's  disasters  :  from  which  the  only  relief  was 
initiation  into  the  mysteries.  Whereby  the  author  would  insinuate 
that  nothing  was  more  abhorent  from  those  holy  rites  than  debauchery 
and  magic  ;  the  two  enormities  they  were  then  commonly  suspected  to 
encourage. 

It  hath  been  observed  above,  that,  by  Llicius's  return  to  his  proper 
form,  was  meant  his  initiation ;  and  accordingly,  that  return  is  called, 
as   initiation   was,  the  being  born  again, — ut  renatus  quodammodo, 

♦  "  Wool,  the  excretion  of  the  most  sluggish  body  belonging  to  the  herd,  was  for 
that  reason,  pronounced  by  Orpheus  and  Pythagoras,  to  be  a  profane  raiment.  But 
flax,  truly  the  most  cleanly  of  the^best  production  of  the  earth,  not  only  cloathed  and 
vailed  the  most  holy  priests  of  Egypt,  but  was  used  also  to  cover  the  sacred  utensils." 
Apul.  p.  64. 

t  "  Whilst  the  apron  with  which  we  [masons]  are  cloathed  indicates  a  disposition 
of  innocence,  and  belies  not  the  wearer's  heart,  let  the  ignorant  deride  and  scoff  on: 
superior  to  the  ridicule  and  malice  of  the  wicked,  we  will  enfold  ourselves  in  the  garb  of 
our  own  virtue;  and  safe  in  our  self- approving  conscience,  stand  unmoved  against  the 
persecutions  of  adversity. 

"  The  raiment  which  truly  implies  the  innocence  of  the  heart,  is  a  badge  more 
honorable  than  ever  was  devised  by  kings ;  the  Roman  eagle,  with  all  the  orders  of 
knighthood,  are  thereunto  inferior.  "     Smith. 

'•  Formerly  masons  used  to  be  cloathed  in  white  during  Lodge  hours,  which  prae- 
Jlice  is  still  followed  in  many  lodges  in  Germany,  France,  and  Holland ;  but  in  Eng- 
land, the  uhite  apron  is  only  remaining.  "  Ibid.— Edit. 


or  ApuLEius.  189 

and — sua  providentia  quodammodo  rtnatos ;  but  this  was  only  to  the 
lesser,  not  the  greater  mysteries.  The  first  was  to  purify  the  mind  : 
hence  it  was  called  by  the  ancients,  kakias  aphairesin,  a  separation 
from  evil :  the  second  was  to  enlighten  it,  when  purified,  and  to  bring 
it  to  the  knowledge  of  divine  secrets.  Hence  they  named  the  one 
Katharsin,  and  the  other  Teleiothta,  purijimtion  and  perfection.* 
The  first  is  here  represented  in  the  incident  of  Lucius's  being  restored 
to  humanity  by  the  use  of  roses :  The  second,  as  the  matter  of  chief 
importance,  the  author  treats  more  circumstantially. 

He  begins  with  making  the  priest  take  occasion,  from  the  benefit 
already  received,  to  press  Lucius  to  enter  into  the  greater  mysteries  of 
Isis. 

But  at  the  same  time  makes  him  inform  the  candidate,  that  nothing 
was  to  be  precipitated :  for  that  not  only  many  previous  rites  and  cere- 
monies, concerning  religious  diet,  and  abstinence  from  profane  food, 
were  to  be  observed  ;  but  that  the  aspirants  to  these  higher  mysteries 
were  to  wait  for  a  call. 

The  author,  by  the  doubts  and  apprehensions  which  retarded  his 
initiation,  first  gives  us  to  understand,  that  the  highest  degree  of  sanctity 
was  required  of  those  who  entered  into  the  mysteries. 

These  difiiculties  being  surmounted,  he  is  initiated  with  the  accus- 
tomened  ceremonies.  He  then  makes  his  prayer,  in  which  the  grand 
aporreta  of  the  mysteries  is  still  more  plainly  referred  to. 

'•  Thou,  O  holy  and  perpetual  saviour  of  the  human  race,  being 
always  munificent  in  cherishing  mortals,  dost  employ  the  sweet  affec- 
tion of  a  mother  in  the  misfortunes  of  the  miserable.  Nor  is  there  any 
day  or  night,  or  even  a  slender  moment  of  time,  which  passes  unat- 
tended by  thy  benevolent  interpositions.  Thou  protectest  men  both  by 
sea  and  land,  and  dispersing  the  storms  of  life,  dost  extend  thy  salutary 
right  hand,  by  which  thou  drawest  back  the  enextricably  twisted  thread 
of  the  Fates,  and  dost  mitigate  the  tempests  of  inclement  fortune,  and 
restrain  the  noxious  courses  of  the  stars.  The  supernal  gods  reverence 
thee,  and  those  in  the  realms  beneath  attentively  observe  thy  nod.  Thou 
rollest  the  sphere  of  the  universe  round  the  steady  poles,  dost  illuminate 
the  sun,  govern  the  world,  and  tread  on  the  dark  realms  of  Tartarus. 
The  stars  move  responsive  to  thy  command,!  the  gods  rejoice  in  thy 

♦  The  masonic  "  Degree  of  Perfection,  or  the  grand  elect,  perfect,  aud  sublime 
mason,"  it  may  be  presumed,  is  entitled  to  the  appellation  of  Teleiothta. — Edit. 

+  Respondent  cidera.  This,  I  suppose,  relates  to  the  music  of  the  spheres.  The 
image  is  noble  and  sublime.  It  is  taken  from  the  consent  in  the  lyre,  to  answer  to,  and 
obey  the  hand  of  the  master  who  had  put  them  into  tune. 


19Q  AMOUR    OF 

divinity,  the  hours  and  seasons  return  by  thy  appointment,  and  the 
elements  reverence  thy  decree.  By  thy  nod  blasts  of  wind  blow,  the 
clouds  are  nourished,  seeds  germinate,  and  blossoms  increase.  Birds 
swiftly  pass  through  the  tracks  of  the  air,  wild  beasts  wandering  on  the 
mountains,  serpents  concealed  in  the  ground,  and  the  enormous  mon- 
sters that  swim  in  the  sea,  are  terrified  at  the  majesty  which  invests  thy 
divinity,  etc.'' 

The  afTair  thus  over,  the  author,  in  the  next  place,  takes  occasion, 
agreeably  to  his  real  practice  and  opinions,  to  recommend  a  multiplicity 
of  initiations.  He  tells  us  how  Isis  counseled  him  to  enter  into  the 
mysteries  of  Osiris :  how,  after  that  she  invited  him  to  a  third  initiation : 
and  then  rewarded  him  for  his  accumulated  piety  with  an  abundance 
of  temporal  blessings. 

All  this  considered,  we  can  no  longer  doubt  but  that  the  true  design 
of  his  work  was  to  recommend  initiation  into  the  mysteries,  in  opposi- 
tion to  the  new  religion.  We  see  the  catastrophe  of  the  piece,  the 
whole  Eleventh  Book,  entirely  taken  up  with  it ;  and  composed  with 
the  greatest  seriousness  and  superstition. 

And,  surely,  nothing  could  be  better  conceived,  to  recommend  the 
mysteries,  than  the  idea  of  such  a  plan ;  or  better  contrived  than  his  exe- 
cution of  it.  In  which,  he  omits  no  circumstance  that  might  be  plau- 
sibly opposed  to  Christianity ;  or  that  might  be  recommended,  with 
advantage,  to  the  magistrate's  favor :  as  where  he  tells  us,  that  in  these 
rites,  they  prayed  for  the  prosperity  of  all  orders  in  the  State, — "  For 
the  great  Emperor,  the  senate,  the  equestrian  order,  and  for  all  the 
Roman  people." 

This  interpretation  will  throw  new  light  on  every  part  of  the 
golden  ass.  But  I  have  been  so  long  upon  the  subject,  that  I  have  only 
time  to  give  one  instance  ;  and  this,  chiefly  because  it  reflects  it  back 
again  on  the  general  interpretation  of  the  fable. 

The  Amftur  of  Cupid  and  Psyche. 

In  the  fifth  and  sixth  books  is  the  long  episode  oi  Cupid  and  Psyche* 
visibly  allegorical  throughout ;  and  entirely  foreign  to  all  the  rest  of  the 

*  In  order  to  a  due  understanding  of  the  Fable,  it  is  necessary  to  know  the  nature  of 
the  characters  upon  which  it  is  founded. 

"  Psyche,  (Greek,  the  soul  or  life)  a  goddess  by  which  the  ancients  seem  to  mean  the 
human  soul.  She  was  represented  with  the  wings  of  a  butterfly  on  her  shoulders,  to 
intimate  by  the  nimbleness  of  that  creature,  the  activity,  nature  and  properties  of  the 
soul."--(Bailey.) 

According  to  ancient  mythology,  there  were  two  cupids,  one,  born  of  Venus,  and 
begotten  by  Jupiter,  the  inpiter  of  celestial  love ;  the  other,  the  son  of  Erebus  and  Nox, 
$he  author  of  terrestial  amour$. — (Edit.) 


CUPID    AND    PSYCHE  191 

work,  considered  as  a  mere  Milesian  fable  ;  but  very  applicable  to  the 
writer's  purpose,  if  he  had  that  moral  to  inculcate  which  we  have  here 
assigned  him. 

There  was  no  man,  though  he  regarded  the  golden  ass  as  a  thing  of 
mere  amusement,  but  saw  that  the  story  of  Cupid  and  Psyche  was  a 
philosophic  allegory  of  the  progress  of  the  soul  to  perfection,  in  the 
possession  of  divine  love  and  the  reward  of  immortality.*  Now  we 
have  shown  at  large,  that  the  professed  end  of  the  mysteries  was  to 
restore  the  soul  to  its  original  rectitude,  and  to  encourage  good  men 
with  the  promises  of  happiness  in  another  life.  The  fable,  therefore, 
of  Cupid  and  Psyche,  in  the  fifth  and  sixth  books,  was  the  finest  and 
most  artful  preparative  for  the  subject  of  the  eleventh,  which  treats  of 
the  mysteries. 

But  if  we  look  more  nearly  into  this  beautiful  fable,  we  shall  find  that, 
besides  its  general  purpose,  it  has  one  more  particular.  We  have  observ- 
ed that  the  corrupt  state  of  the  mysteries,  in  the  time  of  Apuleius,  was  one 
principal  reason  of  his  undertaking  their  apology.  These  corruptions 
were  of  two  kinds,  debaucheries  B.nd  magic.  Their  debaucheries  have 
been  taken  notice  of  above.  Their  magic  was  of  three  sorts  :  The 
magic  of  invocation  or  necromancy ;  the  magic  of  transformation  or 
metamorphosis ;  and  the  magic  of  divine  communication  under  a  visible 
appearance  or  theurgy.  The  shows  of  the  mysteries  seem  to  have 
given  birth  to  the  first,  the  doctrine  of  the  metempsychosis  taught 
therein  to  the  second,  and  the  Aporreia  concerning  the  divine  nature,  to 
the  third.  The  abomination  of  the  two  first  sorts  was  seen,  by  all,  and 
frankly  given  up  as  criminal :  but  the  fanatic  Platonists  and  Pytha- 
goreans of  the  latter  ages,  espousing  the  third,  occasioned  it  to  be  held 
in  credit  and  reverence.  So  that,  as  Heliodorus  tells  us,  the  Egyptian 
priests,  (between  whose  Philosophy  and  fanatic  Platonism,  there  was  at 
this  time  a  kind  of  coalition,)  affected  to  distinguish  between  the  magic 
of  necromancy  and  the  magic  of  theurgy,  accounting  the  first  infamous 
and  wicked  ;  but  the  last  very  fair,  and  even  commendable.  For  now 
both  those  fanatics  had  their  philosophic  mysteries :  the  rites  of  which 
consisted  in  the  practice  of  this  theiirgic  magic.  These  were  the  mys- 
teries, to  observe  it  by  the  way,  of  which  the  emperor  Julian  was  so  fond, 
that  he  placed  his  principal  felicity,  as  the  Christians  did  his  principal 

♦  The  Amour  of  Cupid  and  Psyche  was  a  subject  which  lay  in  common  amongst 
the  Platonic  writers.  And  every  one  fashioned  this  agreeable  fiction  according  to  tne 
doctrines  he  had  to  convey  under  it.  By  this  means  it  could  not  but  become  famous. 
The  remaining  monuments  of  ancient  sculpture  convince  us  that  it  was  very  famous ; 
in  which,  nothing  is  so  common  as  the  figures  of  Cupid  and  Psyche  in  the  various  cir- 
rnmytances  of  their  adventures. 


19!8  AMOOR    OF 

crime,  in  t/ieir  celebration.  But  our  author  who  had  imbibed  his  Pla- 
tonism,  not  at  the  muddy  streams  of  those  late  enthusiasts,  but  at  the 
pure  fountain-head  of  the  Academy  itself,  well  understood  how  much 
this  superstition,  with  all  its  plausible  pretences,  had  polluted  the  mys- 
teries ;  and,  therefore,  as  in  the  course  of  the  adventures  of  his  golden 
ass,  he  had  stigmatized  the  two  other  kinds  of  magic,  he  composed  this 
celebrated  tale,  hitherto  so  little  understood,  to  expose  the  magic  of 
theurgy.  It  is,  as  we  said,  a  philosophic  allegory,  delivered  in  the 
adventures  of  Psyche,  or  the  soul :  w^hose  various  labours  and  traverses 
in  this  progress,  are  all  represented  as  the  affects  of  her  indiscreet  pas- 
sion for  that  species  of  magic  called  Theurgy. 

To  understand  this,  we  must  observe,  that  the  enthusiastic  Platonists, 
in  their  pursuit  of  the  Supreme  Good,  the  union  with  the  Deity,  made 
the  completion  and  perfection  of  it  to  consist  in  the  theiirgic  vision  of  the 
Autopton  Agalma  or  the  self  seen  image,  that  is,  seen  by  the  splendor 
of  its  own  light.  Now  the  story  tells  us,  there  were  three  sisters,  the 
youngest  of  whom  was  called  Psyche  ;  by  which  we  are  to  understand, 
the  three  peripatetic  souls,  the  sensitive,  the  animal,  and  the  rational ; 
or,  in  other  words,  sense,  appetite,  and  reason :  that  the  beauty  of  Psyche 
was  so  divine,  that  men  forsook  the  altars  of  the  gods  to  follow  and 
worship  her,  according  to  the  ancient  aphorism  : 

Nullum  Numen  abest,  si  sifPrudentia. 

No  Deity  is  tvanting,  ifPrudeiice  is  consulted. 
She  is  contracted  to,  and  possesses  the  celestial  Cupid  or  divine  love, 
invisibly.  In  the  mean  time  her  sisters,  envious  of  her  superior  enjoy- 
ments, take  advantage  of  the  god's  invisibility  to  perplex  her  with  a  thou- 
sand doubts  and  scruples,  which  end  in  exciting  her  curiosity  to  get  a 
sight  of  her  lover.  By  which  the  author  seems  to  insinuate  that  they  are 
the  irregular  passions  and  appetites  which  stir  up  men's  curiosity  to  this 
species  of  magic,  the  theiirgic  vision.  Psyche  is  deluded  by  them,  and 
against  the  express  injunction  of  the  god,  who  calls  it  sacrilega  curiosi- 
tas,  attempts  this  fobidden  sight.  She  succeeds,  and  is  undone.  Divine 
love  forsakes  her  :  the  scenes  of  pleasure  vanish  :  and  she  finds  herself 
forlorn  and  abandoned  ;  surrounded  by  miseries,  and  pursued  with  the 
vengeance  of  Heaven.  In  this  distress  she  comes  to  the  temples  of 
Ceres  and  Juno,  and  seeks  protection  of  those  deities ;  by  which  is 
meant,  the  having  recourse  to  their  mysteries,  against  the  evils  and  dis- 
asters of  life;  as  is  plainly  marked  by  the  reason  given  for  her  applica- 
tion:— "  Not  willing  to  omit  any  even  doubtful  means  of  betterini^  mv 


CUPID    AND    PSYCHE. 


l»S 


conditioir."  They  both  deny  admittance  to  her ;  intimating  that  the  purer 
mysteries  discouraged  all  kind  of  magic,  even  the  most  specious.  In 
a  word,  after  a  long  and  severe  repentance  and  penance,  in  which  the 
author  seems  to  have  shadowed  the  trials  and  labors  undergone  by 
the  aspirants  to  the  mysteries,  she  is  pardoned  and  restored  to  the 
favor  of  Heaven.  She  is  put  again  into  possession  of  Divine  Love, 
and  rewarded  with  the  prerogative  of  immortality. 

There  are  many  other  circumstances  in  this  fine  allegory  equally 
serving  to  the  end  here  explained:  as  there  are  others  which  allude  to 
divers  beautiful  platonic  notions,  foreign  to  the  present  discourse.  It 
is  enough  that  we  have  pointed  to  its  chief  and  peculiar  purpose  ; 
which  it  was  impossible  to  see  while  the  nature  and  design  of  the  whole 
fable  lav  undiscovered. 

Before  I  totally  dismiss  this  matter  it  may  not  be  improper  to 
observe,  that  both  Virgil  and  Apuleius  have  represented  the  genuine 
mysteries,  as  Rites  of  perfect  sanctity  and  purity ;  and  recommended 
only  such  to  their  countrymen  ;  while  they  expose  impure  and  impious 
rites  to  the  public  aversion ;  for  it  was  their  purpose  to  stigmatize  the 
reigning  corruptions  and  to  recommend  the  ancient  sanctity.  On  the 
contrary,  a  man  attached  by  his  office  to  the  recommendation  of  the 
mysteries,  as  then  practised,  was  to  do  the  best  he  could,  when  deprived 
of  the  benefit  of  this  distinction ;  and  was  to  endeavor  to  give  fair 
colors  to  the  foulest  things.  This  was  the  case  of  Jamblichus.  His 
friend  Porphyry  had  some  scruples  on  this  head.  He  doubts  whether 
those  rites  could  come  from  the  gods,  which  admitted  such  a  mixture  of 
lewdness  and  impurity.  Such  a  mixture  Jamblichus  confesses;  but  at 
the  same  time,  endeavors  to  account  for  their  divine  original,  by  show- 
ing, that  they  are  only  the  emblems  of  natural  truths ;  or  a  kind  of 
moral  purgation  of  the  inordinate  passions. 

Hitherto  we  have  considered  the  legislator's  care  in  perpetuating 
the  doctrine  of  a  future  state.  And  if  I  have  been  longer  than  ordinary 
on  this  head,  my  excuse  is,  that  the  topic  was  new,  and  the  doctrine 
itself,  which  is  the  main  subject  of  the  present  inquiry,  much  interested 
in  it. 


Theurgy. 
Theiirgy  is   compounded  of  Theos,  God,  and  ergon,   work,   and  signifies  magic 
operating  by  divine  or  celestial  means,  or  the  power  of  doing  extraordinary  and  super- 
natural  things  by  lawful  means,  as  prayer,  invocation  of  God,  etc.,  called  by  some 
lohite  magic. — Bailey. 

'  The  wisest  of  the  pagan  world,  and  their  greatest  philosophers  held  Theiirgic  magic 

25 


194  THE    AMOUR    OF    CUPID    AND    PSYCHE. 

in  the  highest  esteem.  Theurgy  was,  according  to  thera,  a  divine  art,  which  served  only 
to  advance  the  mind  of  man  to  the  highest  perfection,  and  render  the  soul  more  pure ;  and 
they,  who  by  means  of  this  magic  had  the  happiness  to  arrive  at  what  they  called 
AtUopsia,  ox  Intuition^  a  state  wherein  they  enjoyed  intimate  intercourse  with  the  gods, 
beheved  themselves  invested  with  all  their  power,  and  were  persuaded  that  nothing  to 
them  was  impossible.  Towards  this  state  of  perfection  all  those  aspired,  who  made 
profession  of  that  sort  of  magic ;  but  then  it  laid  them  under  severe  regulations.  None 
could  be  priest  of  this  order  but  a  man  of  unblemished  morals,  and  all  who  joined  with 
him  in  his  operations,  were  bound  to  strict  purity ;  they  were  not  allowed  to  have  any 
commerce  with  women ;  to  eat  any  kind  of  animal  food,  nor  to  defile  themselves  by  the 
touch  of  a  dead  body.  The  philosophers,  and  persons  of  the  greatest  virtue,  thought  it 
their  honor  to  be  initiated  into  the  mysteries  of  this  sort  of  magic."— Mayo's  Myth. 
V.  1.  p  277. 

Thomas  Taylor,  in  a  note  to  his  translation  of  Jamblichus,  observes : — "This  art  of 
divine  icorks  is  called  theurgy^  in  which  Pythagoras  was  initiated  among  the  Syrians? 
as  we  are  informed  by  Jamblichus  in  his  hfe  of  that  philosopher.  Proclus  was  also 
skilled  in  this  art,  as  may  be  seen  in  his  life  by  Marinus.  Psellas,  in  his  MS.  treatise 
on  Demons,  says»  '  that  magic  farmed  the  last  part  of  the  sacerdotal  science ;'  in  which 
place  by  magic  he  doubtless  means  that  kind  of  it  which  is  denominated  theiirgy.  And 
that  theurgy  was  employed  by  the  ancients  in  their  mysteries,  I  have  fully  proved  in 
my  treatise  on  the  Eleusiiiian  and  Bacchic  mysteries.  Tliis  theiirgy,  is  doubtless  the 
same  as  the  magic  of  Zoroaster,  which  Plato  in  his  first  Alcibiades  says,  consisted  in 
the  worship  of  the  gods." 

"The  emperor  Julian  alludes  to  this  theiirgical  art,  in  the  following  extract  from  his 
Arguments  against  the  Christians,  preserved  by  Cyril: 

*  For  the  inspiration  which  arrives  to  men  from  the  gods  is  rare,  and  exists  but  in  a 
few.  Nor  is  it  easy  for  every  man  to  partake  of  this,  nor  at  every  time.  It  has  ceased 
among  the  ■•  Hebrews,  nor  is  it  preserved  to  the  present  time  among  the  Egyptians. 
Spontaneous  oracles,  also,  are  seen  to  3deld  to  temporal  periods.  This,  however,  our 
philanthropic  lord  and  father  Jupiter  understanding,  that  we  might  not  be  entirely 
deprived  of  communion  with  the  gods,  has  given  us  observation  through  sacred  artSy  by 
which  we  have  at  hand  sufficient  assistance.'  " — (p.  343,  347 

This  art  was  professed  by  the  early  masons,  as  appears  by  an  examination  of  one 
of  the  brotherhood  by  King  Henry  VI.  It  is,  as  before  observed,  a  fundamental  doctrine 
of  the  Roman  Catholic  church. 

"  The  priests  of  Egypt,  Persia,  India,  etc.  pretended  to  bind  the  gods  to  then-  idols, 
and  to  make  them  descend  from  heaven  at  their  pleasure;  they  threatened  the  sun  and 
moon  to  reveal  the  secret  mysteries,  to  shake  theheavensy  etc."  (Eusebius  Prep.  Kvang. 
p.  198,  and  Jamb,  do  Myst.  Egypt.— See  Ruins,  p.  235.) 


CHAPTER    IV. 

A  SKETCH  OF  THE  LIFE  AND  DOCTRINES  OF  PITHAGORAS,  THE 
FOUNDER  OF  THE  SECT  OF  ANCIENT  PAILOSOPHERS  THAT  BORE 
HIS  NAME.  ALSO  THE  DOCTRINES  AND  CUSTOMS  OF  THE  DRU- 
IDS,   THE    PRIESTS    OF    THE    ANCIENT    BRITONS. 

Notwithstanding  Pythagoras  died,  at  least  fifteen  hundred  years  before  the  insti. 
tution  of  the  Freemasons'  society,  he  is  hailed  by  the  fraternity  as  a  brother  mason. 
Both  Cross  and  Webb,  in  treating  of  masonic  emblems,  among  which  they  include  a 
diagram  of  the  forty-seventh  problem  of  Euclid,  hold  the  following  language : 

"This  was  an  invention  of  our  ancient  friend  and  brother,  the  great  Pythagoras, 
who  in  his  travels  through  Asia,  Africa  and  Europe,  was  initiated  into  several  orders  of 
priesthood,  and  raised  to  the  sublime  degree  of  master-mason.  This  wise  philosopher, 
enriched  his  mind  abundantly  in  a  general  kuowedge  of  things,  and  more  especially  in 
geometry  or  masonry ;  on  this  subject  he  drew  out  many  problems  and  theorems."  etc. 

The  appellation  of  grandfather  of  freemasons  would  perhaps  apply  much  more  appro- 
priately to  Pithagoras,  than  that  of  6ro//icr  ;  for  he  probably  was  the  father  of  Druidism, 
and  this  was  the  father  of  the  masonic  society ;  which  it  made  use  of  as  a  mere  cloak 
to  cover  its  religious  observances,  with  no  special  regard  to  the  improvement  of  the 
craft.  The  idea  however  of  a  connection  between  Pithagoras  and  masonry,  must 
have  been  handed  down  in  tradition  by  the  old  Druidical  masons ;  which  is  a  strong 
evidence,  that  the  secrets  and  ceremonies  of  masonry,  are  derived  from  the  ancient 
Eg5^tian  mysteries  through  the  Pythagorian  school. 

Upon  this  supposition,  of  the  truth  of  which  I  have  no  doubt,  it  becomes  Important 
to  give  some  account  of  this  celebrated  philosopher,  whose  memory  is  so  deservedly 
renerated  by  the  masonic  order. 

The  best  arranged  account  of  his  life  and  doctrines,  that  I  have  met  with,  is  contained 
in  Rees's  Cyclopedia ;  I  therefore  make  the  following  abstract  from  that  work. 


Pithagoras  was  of  Samos,  the  son  of  a  lapidary,  and  the  pupil  of 
Pherecydes,  and  flourished,  says  Bay  le,  about  five  hundred  years  before 
Christ,  in  the  time  of  Tarquin,  the  last  king  of  Rome,  and  not  in  Nu- 
ma's  time,  as  many  authors  have  supposed. — (See  Cicero  Tus.  Quts. 
lib.  iv.  cap.  1. 

Posterity  has  been  very  liberal  to  this  philosopher,  in  bestowing 
upon  him  all  such  inventions  as  others  had  neglected  to  claim,  particu- 
larly in  music  ;  for  there  is  scarcely  any  part  of  it,  as  a  science,  with 
which  he  has  not  been  invested  by  his  generous  followers  in  biography. 

Musical  ratios  have  been  assigned  to  him,  with  the  method  of  deter- 
mining the  gravity  or  acuteness  of  sounds  by  the  greater  or  less  degree 
of  velocity  in  the  vibration  of  strings  ;  the  addition  of  an  eighth  to  the 


196  LIFE    AND    DOCTRINES 

lyre,  (Pliny,  lib.  ii.  cap.  2.)  the  harmony  of  the  spheres  (Plato;)  and 
the  Greek  musical  notation  (Boethius).  His  right,  indeed,  to  some  of 
these  discoveries  has  been  disputed  by  several  authors,  who  have  given 
them  to  others  with  as  little  reason,  perhaps,  as  they  have  been  before 
bestowed  upon  him. 

After  musical  ratios  were  discovered  and  reduced  to  numbers,  they 
were  made  by  Pithagoras  and  his  followers,  the  type  of  order  and  just 
proportion  in  all  things ;  hence  virtue,  friendship,  good  government, 
celestial  motion,  the  human  soul,  and  God  himself  were  harmony. 

This  discovery  gave  birth  to  various  species  of  music,  far  more 
strange  and  inconceivable  than  chromatic  and  enharmonic ;  such  as 
divine  music,  mundane  music,  elementery  music,  and  many  other  divi- 
sions and  subdivisions,  upon  which  Zarlino,  Kirrher,  and  almost  all  the 
old  writers,  never  fail  to  expatiate  with  wonderful  complacence.*  It  is 
perhaps,  equally  to  the  credit  and  advantage  of  music  and  philosophy, 
that  they  have  long  descended  from  these  heights,  and  taken  their 
proper  and  separate  stations  upon  earth  ;  that  we  no  longer  admit  of 
music  that  cannot  be  heard,  or  of  philosophy  that  cannot  be  under- 
stood. 

Master  Thomas  Mace,  author  of  a  most  delectable  book,  called 
"  Music's  Monument,"  would  have  been  an  excellent  Pythagorean ; 
for  he  maintains  that  the  mystery  of  the  Trinity  is  perspicuously  made 
plain  by  the  connection  of  the  three  harmonical  concords,  1,  3,  5 ;  that 
music  and  divinity  are  nearly  allied ;  and  that  the  contemplation  of 
concord  and  discord,  of  the  nature  of  the  octave  and  unison,  will  so 
strengthen  a  man's  faith,  "  that  he  shall  never  after  deg^enerate  into  that 
gross  sub-beastical  sin  of  atheism." 

Pythagoras  is  said  by  the  writers  of  his  life,  to  have  regarded 
music  as  something  celestial  and  divine,  and  to  have  had  such  an  opin- 
ion  of  its  power  over  the  human  affections,  that  according  to  the  Egyp- 
tian system,  he  ordered  his  deciples  to  be  waked  every  morning, 
and  lulled  to  sleep  every  night,  by  sweet  sounds.  He  likewise  con- 
sidered it  as  greatly  conducive  to  health,  and  made  use  of  it  in  disor- 
ders of  the  body,  as  well  as  in  those  of  the  mind.  His  biographers  pre- 
tend to  tell  us  what  kind  of  music  he  applied  upon  these  occasions. 


♦  The  terms  sacred  and  profane  music,  are  still  retained,  appropriating  grave  and 
plain  ive  tones  to  the  former,  and  gay  and  lively  to  the  latter.  On  this  account,  it  is 
reported,  that  Wesley,  the  founder  of  the  Methodist  sect,  declared  that  the  Devil  should 
not  have  all  the  best  tunes,  and  accordingly,  he  introduced  into  his  church  service  the 
most  sprightly  airs,  which  are  still  in  use  among  his  followers,  having,  it  is  said,  the 
most  happy  ef^eci.--  Edit. 


or    PYTHAGORAS.  19T 

Grave  and  solemn,  we  may  be  certain  ;  and  vocal,  say  they,  was  pre- 
ferred to  instrumental,  and  the  lyre  to  the  flute,  not  only  foi  its  decency 
and  gravity,  bat  because  instruction  could  be  conveyed  to  the  mind,  by 
means  of  articulation  in  singing,  at  the  same  time  as  the  ear  was 
delighted  by  sweet  sounds. 

In  perusing  the  list  of  illustrious  men,  who  have  sprung  from  the 
school  of  Pythagoras,  it  appears  that  the  love  and  cultivation  of  music 
was  so  much  a  part  of  their  discipline,  that  almost  every  one  of  them 
left  a  treatise  behind  him  upon  the  subject. 

The  first  journey  of  Pythagoras  from  the  Grecian  islands  was  prob- 
ably into  Egypt,  which  were  celebrated  in  his  time  for  that  kind  of 
wisdom  which  best  suited  his  genius  and  temper.  In  his  way  thither, 
Jamblichus  asserts  that  he  visited  Phoenecia,  and  conversed  with  the 
prophets  and  philosophers  that  were  the  successors  of  Mochus  the 
Physiologist. 

While  he  was  in  Egypt,  he  was  introduced  by  the  recommendation 
of  Polycrates,  tyrant*  of  Samos,  to  Amasia,  king  of  Egypt,  a  distin- 
guished patron  of  literary  men,  and  thus  obtained  access  to  the  col- 
leges of  the  priests.  Having  found  it  difficult  to  gain  this  privilege,  he 
performed  many  severe  and  troublesome  preliminary  ceremonies,  and 
even  submitted  to  circumcision,  a  prescribedcondition  of  his  admission. 
He  passed  twenty-two  years  in  Egypt,  availing  himself  of  all  possible 
means  of  information  with  regard  to  the  recondite  doctrines  of  the 
Egyptian  priests,  as  well  as  their  astronomy  and  geometry,  and  Egyp- 
tian learning  in  its  most  unlimited  extent. 

After  his  return  from  Egypt  to  his  native  island,  he  wished  to  com- 
municate the  benefit  of  his  researches  and  studies  to  his  fellow-citizens, 
and  with  this  view  he  attempted  to  institute  a  school  for  their  instruc- 
tion in  the  elements  of  science ;  proposing  to  adopt  the  Egyptian  mode 
of  teaching,  and  to  communicate  his  doctrines  under  a  symbolical  form. 
But  the  Samians  were  either  too  stupid  or  too  indolent  to  profit  by  his 
instructions.  Although  he  was  obliged  to  relinquish  his  design,  he  did 
not  altogether  abandon  it.  In  order  to  engage  the  attention  of  his 
countrymen  by  some  other  means,  he  repaired  to  Delos  ;  and  after  pre- 
senting an  offering  of  cakes  to  Apollo,  he  there  received,  or  pretended 
to  receive,  moral  dogmas  from  the  priestess,  which  he  afterwards 
delivered  to  his  deciples  under  the  character  of  divine  precepts.     With 

tThe  name  tyrant,  as  at  first  used,  merely  designated  the  chief  magistrate  of  a 
place :  the  Greeks  in  old  time,  called  the  supreme  governor  of  every  city  a  tyrant  or 
king.     Bailpy. — Edit. 


198  LIFE    A\D    DOCTRINKS 

the  same  views  he  also   visited  the  island  of  Crete,  so  celebrated   in 
mythological  history;  where  he  was  conducted  by  the  Corybantes,  or 
priests  of  Cybele,  into  the  cave  of  mount  Ida,  in  which  Jupiter  is  said 
to  hare    been    buried.       Here    he  conversed   with    Epimenides,   an 
eminent  pretender  to  prophetic  powers,  and  was  by  him  initiated  into 
the  most  sacred  mysteries  of  Greece.     About  the  same  time  he  visited 
Sparta  and  Elis,  and  was  present  during  the  celebration  of  the  Olympic 
games,  where  he  is  said  to  have  exhibited  a  golden  thigh  to  Abaris,  in 
order  to  convince  him  that  he  was  Apollo.       Besides  other  places 
which  he  visited  during  his  stay  in  Greece,  he  repaired  to  Phlius,  vi^here 
he  first  assumed  the  appellation  of  philosopher.     Having  thus  added 
to  the  stores  of  learning  which  he  had  previously  accumulated,  and 
acquired  a  kind  of  authority  which  was  calculated  to  command  respect,  he 
returned  to  Samos,  and  made  a  second  attempt,  more  successful  than  his 
first,  to  establish  a  school  of  philosophy.   In  a  semicircular  kind  of  build- 
ing, which  the  Simians  had  used  as  a  place  of  resort  for  public  business, 
he  delivered,  with  an  assumed  authority  of  a  sacred  nature,  popular 
precepts  of  morality  ;  and  he  also  provided  himself  with  a  secret  cave, 
into  which  he  retired  with  his  intimate  friends  and  professed  deciples, 
and  here  he  gave  his  followers  daily  instructions,  accompanied  with  a 
considerable  parade  of  mystery,  in  the  more  abstruse  parts  of  philoso- 
phy.    His  fame,  and  the  multitude  of  his  followers,  increased.     What 
he  failed  to  accomplish  by  mere  force  of  learning  and  ability,  he  effected 
by  concealing  his  doctrines  under  the  veil  of  mysterious  symbols,  and 
issuing  forth  his  precepts  as  responses  fi:om  a  divine  oracle.     About 
the  beginning  of  the  fifty-ninth  Olympiad,  Pythagoras,  desirous  of  esca- 
ping the  tyranical  government  exercised  in  his  native  island,  by  Sylo- 
son,  the  brother  of  Polycrates,  left  Samos,  and,  as  we  have  already 
hinted,  passed  over  into  Italy,  and  attempted  to  establish  his  school 
among  the  colonies  of  Magna  Graecia.     It  is  probable,  that,  in  order  to 
obtain  credit  with  the  populace,  he  about  this  time  pretended  to  possess 
a  power  of  performing  miracles,  and  practised  many  arts  of  imposture. 
The  first  place  at  which  he  arrived  in  Italy  was  Crotona,  a  city  in  the 
bay  of  Tarentum,  the  inhabitants  of  which  were  very  corrupt  in  their 
manners.     But  such  were  his  reputation  and  influence,  that  he  was 
treated  with  great  respect,  and  people  of  all  classes  assembled  to  hear 
his  discourses  ;  insomuch  that  the  manners  of  the  citizens  were  soon 
totally  changed  from  great  luxury  and  licentiousness  to  strict  sobriety 
and  frugality.     It  is  said  that  six  hundred,  (some  say  two  thousand,) 
persons  were  prevailed  upon  to  submit  to  the  strict  discipline  which  he 


OF    PYTHAGORAS.  199 

required  and  to  throw  their  effects  into  a  common  stock  for  the  benefit  of 
the  whole  fraternity.  The  influence  of  his  philosophy  extended  from 
Crotona  to  many  other  cities  of  Magna  Gra3cia,  and  obtained  for  Py- 
thagoras from  his  followers  a  degree  of  respect  little  short  of  adora- 
tion. If  he  had  contented  himself  with  delivering  doctrines  of  philoso- 
phy and  precepts  of  practical  wisdom,  he  might  probably  have  contin- 
ued his  labors,  without  molestation,  to  the  end  of  his  life.  But  he  mani- 
fested a  strong  propensity  towards  political  innovations ;  and  he 
employed  his  influence  in  urging  the  people  to  the  strenuous  assertion  of 
their  rights,  against  the  encroachment  of  their  tyrranical  governors. 
This  course  of  conduct  raised  against  him  a  very  powerful  opposition 
which  he  was  unable  to  resist  and  contend  against,  and  which  obliged 
him  to  retire  to  Metapontum.  Here  he  found  himself  still  surrounded 
with  enemies,  and  was  under  a  necessity  of  seeking  an  assjdum  in  the 
temple  of  the  Muses,  where  not  being  supplied  by  his  friends  with  suf- 
ficient food,  he  perished  with  hunger.*  The  thne  of  his  death  is  uncer- 
tain ;  but  according  to  the  Chronicon  of  Eusebius,  he  died  in  the  third 
year  of  the  sixty-eighth  Olympiad,  B.  C.  506,  after  having  lived  accord- 
ing to  the  most  probable  statement  of  his  birth,  to  the  age  of  eighty 
years.  After  his  death  his  followers  paid  a  superstitious  respect  to  his 
memory.  They  erected  statues  in  honor  of  him,  converted  his  house  at 
Crotona  into  a  temple  of  Ceres,  the  street  in  which  it  stood  was  called  the 
Museum,  and  appealed  to  him  as  a  divinity,  swearing  by  his  name. 

It  appears,  from  the  history  of  this  philosopher,  that  with  all  his  tal- 
ents and  learning,  he  owed  much  of  his  celebrity  and  authority  to 
imposture.  His  whole  manner  of  life  confirms  this  opinion.  Clothed 
in  a  long  white  robe  with  a  flowing  beard,  and,  as  some  say,  with  a  gol- 
den crown  on  his  head,  he  preserved  among  the  people,  and  in  the 
presence  of  his  desciples,  a  commanding  gravity,  and  majesty  of  aspect. 
He  recurred  to  music  for  promoting  the  tranquility  of  his  mind,  fre- 
quently singing,  for  this  purpose,  hymns  of  Thales,  Hesiod,  and 
Homer.  He  had  such  an  entire  command  over  himself,  that  he  was 
never  seen  to  express,  in  his  countenance,  grief,  joy,  or  anger.  He 
refrained  from  animal  food,  and  confined  himself  to  a  frugal  vegetable 
diet,  excluding  from  his  simple  bill  of  fare,  for  mystical  reasons,  pulse 

*  Anobius  affirms  that  Pythagoras  was  buried  alive  in  a  temple  ;  others  state  that 
he  was  slain  in  attempting  to  make  his  escape.  It  can  hardly  be  doubted  that  his 
death  was  violent,  and  that,  with  all  his  caution  to  preserve  himself,  he  foil  a  martyr 
to  his  generous  efforts  to  undeceive  mankind.  An  ill  construction  was  put  upon  the 
union  of  the  Pythagoreans,  and  it  proved  very  fatal  to  them.  That  society  of  students 
being  looked  upon  as  a  faction  which  conspired  against  the  state,  sixty  of  them  were 
destroyed,  and  the  rest  went  into  banishment.— Diegesis,  by  the  Rev.  11.  Taylor,— Edit. 


200  LIFE     AND     DOCTRINES 

or  beans.  By  this  artificial  demeanor,  Pythagoras  appeared  among 
the  vulgar  as  a  being  of  an  order  superior  to  the  common  condition  of 
humanity,  and  persuaded  them  that  he  had  received  his  doctrine  from 
heaven.  Pythagoras  married  Theano  of  Crotona,  or,  as  some  say,  of 
Crete,  by  whom  he  had  two  sons,  Telaugus  and  Mnesarchus,  who,  after 
his  death  took  the  charge  of  his  school.  Whether  this  philosopher  left 
behind  him  any  writings  has  been  a  subject  of  dispute.  Many  works 
have  been  enumerated  under  his  name  by  Leartius,  Jamblichus,  and 
Pliny :  but  it  is  the  declared  opinion  of  Plutarch,  Josephus,  Lucian, 
and  others,  that  there  were  no  genuine  works  of  Pythagoras  extant  ; 
and  it  appears  highly  probable,  from  the  pains  which  he  took  to  con- 
fine his  doctrine  to  his  own  school  during  his  life,  that  he  never  com- 
mitted his  philosophical  system  to  writing,  and  that  the  pieces  to  which 
his  name  was  affixed  at  an  early  period,  were  written  by  some  of  his 
followers,  upon  the  principles  imbibed  in  his  school.  The  famous  gol- 
den verses  attributed  to  Pythagoras,  and  illustrated  with  a  commentary 
by  Hierocles,  were  not  written  by  our  philosopher,  but  are  to  be 
ascribed  to  Epicharmus,  or  Empedocles.  They  may,  however,  be  con- 
sidered as  a  brief  summary  of  his  popular  doctrines. 

His  method  of  instruction,  formed  upon  the  Egyptian  model,  was 
*'  exoteric,"  and  "  esoteric,"  that  is,  public  and  private.  Those  auditors, 
who  attended  his  public  lectures,  did  not  properly  belong  to  his  school, 
but  followed  their  usual  mode  of  living.  His  select  deciples  called  his 
companions  and  friends,  wei^e  such  as  submitted  to  a  peculiar  plan  of 
discipline,  and  were  admitted  by  a  long  course  of  instruction,  into  all  the 
mysteries  of  his  esoteric  doctrine* 

♦Masons,  who  have  taken  only  the  three  first  degrees  of  the  order,  are  taught  only 
what  may  be  called  the  exoteric  doctrine  of  masonry,  and  this  in  an  obscure  symbolical 
manner,  not  intended  to  be  fully  understood.  In  this  grade,  ihey  call  each  other  brotlier. 
Thev  were  formerly,  that  is,  in  the  time  of  the  Druids,  not  permitted  to  advance  further, 
until  they  had  convinced  their  superiors  that  confidence  might  be  placed  in  them,  and 
that  they  were  worthy  of  receiving  the  esoteric  principles  of  the  order.  When  raised  to 
the  subhnie  degree  of  royal  arch,  they  address  one  another  by  the  appellation  of  com- 
panion. And  then,  no  doubt,  in  ancient  times,  the  whole  secret  of  masonry,  that  is, 
the  doctrine  of  Druidism  was  clearly  exposed. 

Dermott,  after  making  some  remarks  on  the  conduct  of  certain  persons,  who,  it 
seems,  were  dissatisfied  at  not  having  been  admitted  to  the  royal  arch  degree,  says,  "To 
this  I  will  add  the  opinion  our  worshipful  brother,  Dr.  Fifield  D'Assigney,  printed  in 
the  year  1744.  '  Some  of  the  fraternity,  says  he,  have  expressed  an  uneasiness  at  this 
matter's  being  kept  a  secret  from  them,  since  they  had  already  passed  through  the  usual 
degrees  of  probation  ;  but  I  cannot  help  being  of  opinion  that  ihoy  have  no  right  to  any 
such  benefit  until  they  make  a  proper  application,  and  are  received  with  due  formality; 
and  as  it  is  an  organized  body  of  men,  who  have  passed  the  chair,  and  given  undenia- 
ble proofs  of  their  skill  in  ardiitccture,  it  cannot  be  treated  with  too  much  reverence.^' 

Now,  Dr.  Fifield  must  have  been  sensible,  that  architecture  was  not  taught  in  the 
lodge  in  his  day.  This  ridiculous  parade,  therefore,  about  sfcill  in  this  art,  is  a  mere 
excuse  for  the  observance  of  an  ancient  custom,  the  reason  for  which  was  unknown. 
Edit. 


OF    PyXHAGORAS.  201 

Previously  to  the  admission  of  any  person  into  this  fraternity,  Pythago- 
ras examined  his  features  and  external  appearance  ;  inquired  how  he 
had  been  accustomed  to  behave  towards  his  parents  and  friends ;  marked 
his  manner  of  laughing,  conversing,  and  keeping  silence ;  and  observed 
what  passions  he  was  most  inclined  to  indulge  ;  with  what  kind  of 
company  he  chose  to  associate ;  how  he  passed  his  leisure  moments  ; 
and  what  incidents  appeared  to  excite  in  him  the  strongest  emotions  of 
joy  or  sorrow.  Nor  after  this  examination  was  any  one  admitted  into 
his  society,  till  he  was  fully  persuaded  of  the  docility  of  his  disposition, 
the  gentleness  of  his  manners,  his  power  of  retaining  in  silence  what 
he  was  taught,  and,  in  fine,  his  capacity  of  becoming  a  true  philosopher. 
After  the  first  probationary  admission,  the  fortitude  and  self-command 
of  the  candidate  were  put  to  the  trial  by  a  long  course  of  severe  absti- 
nence and  rigorous  exercise.  The  course  of  abstinence  and  self-denial 
comprehended  food  and  drink,  and  clothing,  all  which  were  of  the  most 
plain  and  simple  kind,  and  the  exercises  prescribed  were  such  as  could 
not  be  performed  without  pain  and  fatigue.  To  teach  them  humility 
and  industry,  he  exposed  them,  for  three  years,  to  a  continued  course 
of  contradiction,  ridicule  and  contempt,  among  their  fellows.*  In 
order  to  restrain  the  powerful  passion  of  avarice,  he  required  his  disci- 
ples to  submit  to  voluntary  poverty  :  he  deprived  them  of  all  command 
over  their  own  property,  by  casting  the  possessions  of  each  individual 
into  a  common  stock,  to  be  distributed  by  proper  officers  as  occasion 
required.  After  this  sequestration  of  their  goods,  they  lived  together 
on  a  footing  of  perfect  equality,  and  sat  down  together  daily  at  a  com- 
mon table.  If  any  one  afterwards  repented  of  the  connection,  he  was 
at  liberty  to  depart,  and  might  reclaim,  from  the  general  fund,  his 
whole  contribution.  That  his  disciples  might  acquire  a  habit  of  entire 
docility,  Pythagoras  enjoined  upon  them,  from  their  first  admission,  a 


*  This  is  imitated  in  the  past  master's  degree  of  masonry.  The  newly  initiated  mem- 
ber, perfectly  ignorant  of  the  mode  of  proceedings  in  a  lodge,  is,  against  his  will, 
placed  in  the  chair  of  the  master  as  presiding  officer ;  and  "  the  installed  worshipful 
is  made  the  butt  for  every  worthy  brother  to  exercise  his  wit  upon." 

This  custom,  it  would  appear,  has  descended  from  the  Druids,  the  ancient  school- 
masters of  England,  to  the  universities  and  colleges,  even  of  America ;  where  those  of 
the  freshmen,  or  newly  entered  class,  are  made  the  butt  and  ridicule  of  the  higher  classes 
for  twelve  months.  The  latter  are  empowered  to  direct  the  former  to  perform  any 
errand  they  wish ;  can  order  'iiem  to  repair  to  thdr  rooms,  and  there  lecture  them  for 
their  awkwardness,  ignorance,  etc.  This  practice  was  doubtless  introduced  upon  the 
principle  of  Pithagoras,  to  inculcate  humility ;  but  when  exercised  upon  a  raw,  diffident, 
country  boy,  it  must  prove  extremely  discouraging  and  oppressive.  The  custom  how- 
ever, it  is  said  has  gone  into  disuse.  Gen.  Erastus  Root  of  Delhi,  in  this  State,  by  a 
resolute  refusal  to  submit  to  this  discipline,  has  the  honor,  as  I  am  informed  by  a  grad- 
uate of  Dartmouth  college,  of  putting  an  end  to  this  vile  practice  in  that  institution.— 
Edit. 

26 


202  LIFE    AND    DOCTRINES 

long  term  of  silence,  called  echemyihia.  This  initiatory  silence, 
which  probably  consisted  in  refraining-  from  speech,  not  only  during 
the  hours  of  instruction,  but  through  the  whole  term  of  initiation,  con- 
tinued from  two  to  five  years,  according  to  the  propensity  discovered 
by  the  pupil  towards  conceit  and  loquacity.  With  regard  to  himself, 
this  was  a  judicious  expedient,  as  it  checked  impertinent  curiosity,  and 
prevented  every  inconvenience  of  contradiction.  Accordingly  his  dis- 
ciples silenced  all  doubts  and  refuted  all  objections,  by  appealing  to  his 
authority  Autos  epha,  ipse  dixit,  decided  every  dispute.  More- 
over, during  the  years  of  initiation,  the  disciples  were  prohibited  from 
seeing  their  master,  or  hearing  his  lectures,  except  from  behind  a  cur- 
tain,* or  receiving  instructions  from  some  inferior  preceptor. 

To  the  members  of  theesoteric  school  (who  were  called  gyesioi  emile- 
tai  genuine  disciples)  belonged  the  peculiar  privilege  of  receiving  a  full 
explanation  of  the  whole  doctrine  of  Pythagoras,  which  was  delivered 
to  others  in  brief  precepts  and  dogmas,  under  the  concealment  of  sym- 
bols. Disciples  of  this  class  were  permitted  to  take  minutes  of  their 
master's  lectures  in  writing,  as  well  as  to  propose  questions,  and  offer 
remarks,  upon  every  subject  of  discourse.  These  were  particularly  dis- 
tinguished by  the  appellation  of  the  "  Pythagoreans,"  they  were  also 
called  "  Mathematicians,"  from  the  studies  upon  which  they  entered 
immediately  after  their  initiation.  After  having  made  a  sufficient  pro- 
gress in  geometrical  science,  they  proceeded  to  the  study  of  nature,  the 
investigation  of  primary  principles,  and  the  knowledge  of  God.  Those 
who  pursued  these  sublime  speculations  were  called  "  Theorists,"  and 
those  who  devoted  themselves  more  particularly  to  Theology,  were 
styled  sebastikoi,,  religious.  Others,  according  to  their  abilities  and  incli- 
nations, were  engaged  in  the  study  of  morals,  economics,  and  policy ; 
and  were  afterwards  employed  in  managing  the  affairs  of  the  fraternity, 
or  sent  into  the  cities  of  Greece,  to  instruct  them  in  the  principles  of 
government,  or  assist  them  in  the  institution  of  laws. 

The  brethren  of  the  Pythagorean  college  at  Crotona,  called  coniobiorit 
coenobium,  about  six  hundred  in  number,  lived  together  as  in  one  fam- 
ily, with  their  wives  and  children,  and  the  whole  business  of  the  society 
was  conducted  with  the  most  perfect  regularity.  Every  day  com- 
menced with  a  deliberation  upon  the  manner  in  which  it  should  be 
spent,  and  concluded  with  a  retrospect  of  the  events  which  had  occurred, 


♦  There  is  an  affectation  of  this  sort,  as  before  observed,  in  the  masonic  degrees  of 
"Knight  of  the  Eagle,"  and  "Knight  of  Kadosh,"  in  which  the  candidate  ie  not  permit- 
ted to  Bee  the  person  who  initiates  him.— Edit. 


OP    PYTHAGORAS.  103 

and  of  the  business  that  had  been  transacted.  They  rose  before  the  sua 
that  they  might  do  him  homage ;  after  which  they  repeated  select  ver- 
ses from  Homer  and  other  poets,  and  made  use  of  music,  both  vocal 
and  instrumental,  to  enliven  their  spirits  and  fit  them  for  the  business 
of  the  day.  They  then  employed  several  hours  in  the  study  of  science. 
These  were  succeeded  by  an  interval  of  leisure,  which  was  commonly 
spent  in  a  solitary  walk  for  the  purpose  of  contemplation.  The  next 
portion  of  the  day  was  allotted  to  conversation.  The  hour  immediately 
before  dinner  was  filled  up  with  various  kinds  of  athletic  exercises. 
Their  dinner  consisted  chiefly  of  bread,  honey,  and  water ;  for  after 
they  were  perfectly  initiated,  they  wholly  denied  themselves  the  use  of 
wine.  The  remainder  of  the  day  was  devoted  to  civil  and  domestic 
affairs,  conversation,  bathing  and  religious  ceremonies. 

The  "  exoteric"  disciples  of  Pythagoras  were  taught  after  the 
Egyptian  manner,  by  images  and  symbols,  obscure  and  almost  unintel- 
ligible to  those  who  were  not  initiated  into  the  mysteries  of  the  school ; 
and  those  who  were  admitted  to  this  privilege  were  under  the  strictest 
obligation  of  silence  with  regard  to  the  recondite  doctrines  of  their 
master.  The  wisdom  of  Pythagoras,  that  it  might  not  pass  into  the 
ears  of  the  vulgar,  was  committed  chiefly  to  memory ;  and  when  they 
found  it  necessary  to  make  use  of  writing,  they  took  care  not  to  suffer 
their  minutes  to  pass  beyond  the  limits  of  the  school.* 

Clemens  observes,  that  the  two  orders  above  described  corresponded 
very  exactly  to  those  among  the  Hebrews ;  for  in  the  schools  of  the 
prophets  there  were  two  classes,  viz :  the  sons  of  the  prophets,  who 
were  the  scholars ;  and  the  doctors  or  masters,  who  were  also  called 
perfecti ;  and  among  the  Levites,  the  novices  or  tyros,  who  had  their 
quinquenial  exercises,  by  way  of  preparation.  Lastly,  even  among  the 
proselytes  there  were  two  orders :  exoterici,  or  proselytes  of  the  gatej 

♦  The  principal  and  and  most  efficacious  of  their  doctrines,  the  Pythagoreans  com- 
mitted to  memory,  and  communicated  them  to  their  successors  as  mysteries  from  the 
gods ;  and  if  at  any  time  there  were  any  extraneous,  or,  as  I  may  say,  -profane  per- 
sona among  them,  they  signified  their  meaning  by  symbols. 

Hence  Lysis  reproving  Hipparchus  for  communicating  the  discourse  to  uninitiated 
persons,  void  of  mathematics  and  theory,  saith,  it  is  reported  that  you  teach  philosophy 
m  public  to  all  that  come,  which  Pythagoras  would  not  do.  If  you  are  changed,  I  shall 
rejoice ;  if  not,  you  are  dead  to  me  :  for  we  ought  to  remember  that  it  is  pious,  accord- 
ing 10  the  direction  oi  divine  and  human  exertations,  that  the  goods  of  wisdom  ought 
not  to  be  communicated  to  those  whose  soul  is  not  purified  so  much  as  in  dream.  It 
is  not  lawful  to  bestow  on  every  one  that  which  was  acquired  with  so  much  labor,  nor 
to  reveal  the  mysteries  of  the  Eleusinian  goddess  to  profane  persons.  They  who  do 
both  these,  are  alike  unjust  and  irreligious.  It  is  good  to  consider  within  ourselves  how 
much  time  was  employed  in  taking  away  the  spois  that  were  in  our  breasts,  that  after 
five  years  we  mi^ht  be  made  capable  of  his  [Pythagoras' si  discourses.— Jamblichus. 
Quoted  in  T.  Stanley's  History  of  Philosophy.    London,  1666,  p.  276.— Edit. 


204 


LIFE    AND    DOCTRINES 


and  intrineeci,  or  perfecti,  proselytes  of  the  covenant.  He  adds,  it  is 
highly  probable,  that  Pythagoras  himself  had  been  a  proselyte  of  the 
gate,  if  Jiot  of  the  covenant. 

After  the  dissolution  of  the  assembly  of  Pythagoras's  disciples  by 
the  faction  of  Cylo,  a  man  of  wealth  and  distinction  at  Crotona,  it  was 
thought  necessary  by  Lysis  and  Archippus,  in  order  to  preserve  the 
Pythagorean  doctrine  from  oblivion,  to  reduce  it  to  a  systematic  sum- 
mary ;  at  the  same  time,  however,  strongly  enjoining  their  children  to 
preserve  these  memoirs  secret,  and  to  transmit  them  in  confidence  to  their 
posterity.  From  this  tim^  books  began  to  multiply  among  the  follow- 
ers of  Pythagoras,  till  at  length,  in  the  time  of  Plato,  Philolaus  exposed 
the  Pythagorean  records  to  sale,  and  Archytas  of  Tarentum  gave  Plato 
a  copy  of  his  commentaries  upon  the  aphorisms  and  precepts  of  his 
master.  Of  the  imperfect  records  of  the  Pythagorean  philosophy  left 
by  Lysis,  Archytas,  and  others,  nothing  has  escaped  the  wreck  of  time, 
except  perhaps  sundry  fragments  collected  by  the  diligence  of  Stobaeus, 
concerning  the  authenticity  of  which  there  are  some  grounds  for  sus- 
picion ;  and  which,  if  admtted  as  genuine,  will  only  exhibit  an  imper- 
fect view  of  the  moral  and  political  doctrine  of  Pythagoras  under  the 
disguise  of  symbolical  and  enigmatical  language.  The  strict  injunc- 
tion of  secrecy,  which  was  given  by  oath  to  the  initiated,  Pythagoreans 
has  effectually  prevented  any  original  records  of  their  doctrine  con- 
cerning Nature  and  God  from  passing  down  to  posterity.  On  this 
head  we  are  to  rely  entirely  for  information,  and  indeed  concerning 
the  whole  doctrine  of  Pythagoras,  upon  Plato  and  his  followers.  Plato 
himself,  while  he  enriched  his  system  with  stores  from  the  magazine 
of  Pythagoras,  accommodated  the  Pythagorean  doctrines,  as  he  also 
did  those  of  his  master  Socrates,  to  his  own  system,  and  thus  gave  an 
imperfect,  and,  we  may  suppose,  in  many  particulars,  a  false  represen- 
tation of  the  doctrines  of  the  Samian  philosopher.  It  was  farther  cor- 
rupted by  the  followers  of  Plato,  even  in  the  old  academy,  and  after- 
wards in  the  Alexandrian  school.  To  which  we  may  add,  that  the 
doctrine  of  Phythagoras  itself,  probably  in  its  original  state,  and 
certainly  in  every  form  under  which  it  has  been  transmitted  to  us,  was 
observed,  not  only  by  symbolical,  but  by  mathematical  language,  which 
is  rather  adapted  to  perplex  than  to  illustrate  metaphysical  conceptions. 
In  this  fault  P3rthagoras  was  afterwards  imitated  by  Plato,  Aristotle, 
and  others.* 


♦  Moderatus  ^aith,  that  the  Pythagoric  philosophy  came  at  last  to  be  extinguished ; 
first,  because  it  was  enigmatical ;  next,  because  the  writings  were  in  the  Doric  dialect, 
which  is  obscure,  by  which  means  the  doctrines  delivered  in  it  were  not  understood ; 


OF    PYTHAGORAS.  205 

We  extract  from  Brucker  the  following*  faint  delineation  of  the 
Pythagorean  philosophy :  The  end  of  philosophy  is  to  free  the  mind 
from  those  incumbrances,  which  hinder  its  progress  towards  perfection, 
and  to  raise  it  to  the  contemplation  of  immutable  truth,  and  the  know- 
ledge of  divine  and  spiritual  objects.  This  effect  must  be  produced  by 
easy  steps,  lest  the  mind,  hitherto  conversant  only  with  sensible  things^ 
should  revolt  at  the  change.  The  first  step  towards  wisdom  is  the 
study  of  mathematics,  a  science  which  contemplates  objects  that  lie  in 
the  middle  way  between  corporeal  and  incorporeal  beings,  and  as  it 
were  on  the  confines  of  both,  and  which  most  advantageously  inures  the 
mind  to  contemplation. 

The  monad,  or  unity,  is  that  quantity,  which,  being  deprived  of  all 
number,  remains  fixed ;  whence  called  monad  from  to  meneiri.  It  is 
the  fountain  of  all  number.  The  duad  is  imperfect  and  passive,  and 
the  cause  of  increase  and  division.  The  triad,  composed  of  the  monad 
and  duad,  partakes  of  the  nature  of  both.  The  tetrad,  tetractys,  or 
quaternion  number,  is  the  most  perfect.  The  decad,  which  is  the  sum 
of  the  four  former,  comprehends  all  arithmetical  and  musical  propor- 
tions. 

According  to  some  writers,  the  monad  denotes  the  active  principle 
in  nature,  or  God;  the  duad,  the  passive  principle,  or  matter  ;  the  triad, 
the  word  formed  by  the  union  of  the  two  former ;  and  the  tetractys,  the 
perfection  of  nature.  Some  have  understood  by  this  mysterious  number 
the  four  elements;  others,  the  four  faculties  of  the  human  mind;  others, 
the  four  cardinal  virtues  ;  and  others  have  been  so  absurd  as  to  suppose 
that  Pythagoras  made  use  of  this  number  to  express  the  name  of  God» 

in  reference   to  the  word  [Gehovah,!  by  which  that   name   is 

expressed  in  the  Hebrew  language.  But  every  attempt  to  unfold  this 
mystery  has  hitherto  been  unsuccessful. 

Next  to  numbers,  music  had  the  chief  place  in  the  preparatory 
exercises  6f  the  Pythagorean  school,  by  means  of  which  the  mind  was 
to  be  raised  above  the  dominion  of  the  passions,  and  inured  to  contem- 
plation. Pythagoras  considered  music,  not  only  as  an  art  to  be  judged 
of  by  the  ear,  but  as  a  science  to  be  reduced  to  mathematical  principles 
and  proportions. 


and,  moreover,  because  they  who  published  them  were  not  Pythagoreans.  Besides, 
Plato,  Aristotle,  and  others,  as  the  Pythagoreans  aflBrm,  vended  the  best  of  them  as 
their  own,  changing  only  some  few  things  in  them,  but  the  more  vulgar  and  trivial,  and 
whatsoever  was  afterwards  invented  by  envious  and  calumnious  persons,  to  cast  a 
contempt  upon  the  Pythagorean  school,  they  collected  and  dehvered  as  proper  to  that 
sect.— (Porphyry,  p.  36 ;  Stanley,  p.  363.)— JSrft^. 


206  LIFE    AND    DOCTRINES 

It  was  said  of  Pythagoras  by  his  followers,  who  hesitated  at  no 
assertion,  however  improbable,  which  might  seem  to  exalt  their  master's 
fame,  that  he  was  the  only  mortal  so  far  favored  by  the  gods  as  to  be 
permitted  to  hear  the  celestial  music  of  the  spheres.  Pythagoras  applied 
music  to  the  cure  of  diseases  both  bodily  and  mental.  It  was,  as  we 
have  seen,  the  custom  of  his  school,  to  compose  their  minds  for  rest  in 
the  evening,  and  to  prepare  themselves  for  action  in  the  morning,  by 
suitable  airs,  which  they  performed  upon  the  lute,  or  other  stringed 
instruments.  The  music  was,  however,  always  accompanied  with 
verse,  so  that  it  may  be  doubted,  whether  the  effect  was  to  be  ascribed 
more  to  the  musician  or  to  the  poet.  It  is  said  of  Clinius,  a  Pythago- 
rean, that  whenever  he  perceived  himself  inclined  to  anger,  spleen,  or 
other  restless  passions,  he  took  up  his  lute,  and  that  it  never  failed  to 
restore  the  tranquility  of  his  mind.  Of  Pythagoras  himself,  it  is  related, 
that  he  checked  a  young  man,  v^ho,  in  the  midst  of  his  revels,  was 
meditating  some  act  of  Bacchanalian  madness,  by  ordering  the 
musician,  who  had  inflamed  his  passions  by  Phrygian  airs,  to  change 
the  music  on  a  sudden  into  the  slow  and  solemn  Doric  mood.  If  the 
stories  which  are  related  by  the  ancients  concerning  the  wonderful 
effects  of  their  music  are  to  be  credited,  we  must  acknowledge  we  are 
strangers  to  the  method  by  which  these  effects  were  produced. 

Besides  arithmetic  and  music,  Pythagoras  cultivated  geometry, 
which  he  had  learned  in  Egypt;  but  he  greatly  improved  it,  by  inves- 
tigating many  new  theorems,  and  by  digesting  its  principles,  in  an 
order  more  perfectly  systematical  than  had  before  been  done.  Several 
Grecians,  about  the  time  of  Pythagoras,  applied  themselves  to  mathe- 
matical learning,  particularly  T hales  in  Ionia.  But  Pythagoras  seems 
to  have  done  more  than  any  other  philosopher  of  this  period  towards 
reducing  geometry  to  a  regular  science.  His  definition  of  a  point  is» 
a  monad  or  unity  with  position.  He  taught  that  a  geometrical  point 
corresponds  to  unity  in  arithmetic,  a  line  to  two,  a  superficies  to  three* 
a  solid  to  four.  Of  the  geometrical  theorems  ascribed  to  Pythagoras,  the 
following  are  the  principal :  that  the  interior  angles  of  every  triangle 
are  together  equal  to  two  right  angles ;  that  the  only  polygons  which 
fill  up  the  whole  space  about  a  given  point,  are  the  equilateral  triangle, 
the  square,  and  the  hexagon  ;  the  first  to  be  taken  six  times,  the  second 
four  times,  and  the  third  three  times ;  and  that,  in  rectangular  triangles, 
the  square  of  the  side  which  subtends  the  right  angle  is  equal  to  the 
two  squares  of  the  sides  which  contain  the  right  angle.  Upon  the 
invention  of  this  later  proposition  (Euclid,  1.  i.  prop.  47.,)  Plutarch  says. 


OF    PYTHAGORAS.  207 

that  Pythagoras  offered  an  ox,  others,  an  hecatomb,  to  the  gods.  But 
this  story  is  thought  by  Cicero  inconsistent  with  the  institutions  of 
Pythagoras,  which,  as  he  supposes,  did  not  admit  of  animal  sacrifices. 
Theoretical  philosophy,  which  treats  of  nature  and  its  origin,  was  the 
highest  object  of  study  of  the  Pythagorean  school,  and  included  all  those 
profound  mysteries,  which  those,  who  have  been  ambitious  to  report 
what  Pythagoras  said  behind  the  curtain,  have  endeavored  to  unfold. 
Upon  this  subject,  nothing  can  be  advanced  with  certainty,  especially 
respecting  theology,  the  doctrine  of  which,  Pythagoras,  after  the  man- 
ner of  the  Egyptian  priests,  w^as  peculiarly  careful  to  hide  under  the 
vail  ofxsymbols,  probably  through  fear  of  disturbing  the  popular  super- 
stitions. The  ancients  have  not,  however,  left  us  without  some  grounds 
of  conjecture. 

With  respect  to  God,  Pythagoras  appears  to  have  taught,  that  he  is 
the  Universal  Mind,  diffused  through  all  things,  the  source  of  all  animal 
life,  the  proper  and  intrinsic  cause  of  all  motion,  in  substance  similar  to 
light,  in  nature  like  truth,  the  first  principle  of  the  universe,  incapable 
of  pain,  invisible,  incorruptible,  and  only  to  be  comprehended  by  the 
mind. 

The  region  of  the  air  was  supposed  by  the  Pythagoreans  to  be  full 
of  spirits,  demons,  or  heroes,  who  cause  sickness  or  health  to  man  or 
beast,  and  communicate,  at  their  pleasure,  by  means  of  dreams,  and 
other  instruments  of  divination,  the  knowledge  of  future  events.  That 
Pythagoras  himself  held  this  opinion  cannot  be  doubted,  if  it  be  true,  as 
his  biographers  relate,  that  he  professed  to  cure  diseases  by  incantations. 
It  is  probable  that  he  derived  it  from  the  Egyptians,  among  whom  it 
was  believed  that  many  diseases  were  caused  by  demoniacal  posses- 
sions. 

The  doctrine  of  the  Pythagoreans,  respecting  the  nature  of  brute 
animals,  and  metempsychosis,  the  transmigration  of  souls,  were  the  foun- 
dation of  their  abstinence  from  animal  food,  and  of  the  exclusion  of 
animal  sacrifices  from  their  religious  ceremonies. 

This  doctrine  Pythagoras  probably  learned  in  Egypt,  where  it  was 
commonly  taught.  Nor  is  there  any  sufficient  reason  for  understand- 
ing it,  as  some  have  done,  symbolically. 

The  precept  prohibiting  the  use  of  beans,  is  one  of  the  mysteries 
which  the  ancient  Pythagoreans  never  disclosed,  and  which  modern 
ingenuity  has  in  vain  attempted  to  discover.  Pythagorean  precepts  of 
more  value  are  such  as  these :  Discourse  not  of  Pythagorean  doctrines 
without  light.     Above  all  things  govern  your  tongue.     Quit  not  your 


208  LIFE    AND    DOCTRINES 

Station  without  the  command  of  your  general.  Remember  that  the 
paths  of  virtue  and  of  vice  resemble  the  letter  Y.  To  this  symbol 
Persius  refers,  when  he  says, 

"There  has  the  Samain  Y's  instructive  make 
Pointed  the  road  thy  doubtful  foot  should  take ; 
There  warn'd  thy  raw  and  yet  unpractis'd  youth, 
To  tread  the  rising  right-hand  path  of  truth." 

{Brucker's  Hist.  Philos.  by  Enfield^  vol.  i.  b.  c.  12.) 

After  the  death  of  Pythagoras,  the  care  and  education  of  his  chil- 
dren, and  the  charge  of  his  school,  devolved  upon  Aristasus  of  Crotona, 
who,  having  taught  the  doctrine  of  Pythagoras  thirty-nine  years,  was  suc- 
ceeded by  Mnesarchus,  the  son  of  Pythagoras.  Pythagorean  schools 
were  afterwards  conducted  in  Heraclia  by  Clinias  and  Philolaus ;  at 
Metapontum  by  Theorides  and  Eurytus;  and  at  Tarentum  by  Archy- 
tas,  who  is  said  to  have  been  the  eighth  in  succession  from  Pythagoras, 
The  first  person  who  divulged  the  Pythagorean  doctrine  was  Philo- 
laus. 


The  symbolical  use  of  the  letter  Y  has  reference  to  the  old  fable,  before  noticed,  of 
the  trivia  or  triple  path,  that  is,  where  the  road  to  the  infernal  regions  divides  into  two^ 
the  one  leading  to  Elysium,  and  the  other  to  Tartarua  This  letter  was  a  very  appro- 
priate symbol  to  mark  out  these  roads ;  the  disproportion  of  the  two  strokes  which  form 
it,  being  indicative  of  the  comparative  numbers  to  be  accommodated  in  the  two  courses ; 
that  is,  of  the  righteous  and  the  wicked.  St.  Matthew,  no  doubt,  makes  allusion  to  the 
common  idea  entertained  upon  this  subject,  when  he  says, 

"  Enter  ye  in  at  the  straight  gate :  for  wide  is  the  gate,  and  broad  is  the  way,  that 
leadeth  to  destruction,  and  many  there  be  which  go  in  thereat :  because  straight  is  the 
gate,  and  narrow  is  the  way,  which  leadeth  unto  life ;  and  few  there  be  that  find  it." 
(vu.  13.) 

"It  is  surprising,  says  Bayle,  that  a  philosopher  so  skillful  as  Pythagoras  in  astro- 
nomy, in  geometry,  and  in  other  parts  of  the  mathematics,  should  be  pleased  to  dehver 
his  most  beautiful  precepts  under  the  vail  of  enigmas.  This  vail  was  so  thick,  that  the 
interpreters  have  found  in  it  ample  matter  for  conjecture.  This  symbolic  method  was 
very  much  used  in  the  East,  an«J  in  Egypt.  It  is  from  thence  without  doubt  Pythagoras 
has  derived  it.  He  returned  fro'm  his  travels  laden  with  the  spoils  of  the  erudition  of 
all  the  countries  he  had  visited.  It  is  pretended  that  his  tetractys  is  the  same  thing  as 
the  name  telragrammaton,  a  name  inefTable  and  full  of  mystery,  according  to  the 
Rabbins.  Others  will  have  it,  that  this  tetractys,  this  grand  object  of  veneration  and  of 
oathsy  is  nothing  more  than  a  mysterious  manner  of  dogmatising  by  numbers.  But  let 
us  not  forget,  that  Pythagoras  and  his  successors  had  two  ways  of  teaching,  one  for  the 
initiated,  and  the  other  for  strangers  and  the  profane.  The  first  was  clear  and  unvailed, 
the  second  was  symbolic  and  enigmatical."— (Diet.) 

It  is  somewhat  remarkable,  that  a  difference  of  opinion  should  exist  among  the 
learned  in  regard  to  the  meaning  which  Pythagoras  intended  to  convey  to  his  pupils  of 
the  esoteric  class,  by  the  word  Tetractys :  for  it  appears  pretty  evident,  that  he  used  it. 


CUSTOMS    AND    DOGMAS    OF    THE    DRUIDS.  209 

enigamatically  as  synonymous  with  geometry.  And  bo  Bailey,  who  seems' to  have 
known  more  of  antiquity  than  any  other  of  his  day,  defines  it.  He  says,  "  Tetractys^ 
in  ancient  geometry,  signified  a. point,  a  line,  a  surface,  and  a  sohd."  Hutchinson,  in 
his  'Spirits  of  Masonry,'  gives  the  same  definition.  He  says,  "The  Pythagoric 
tetractics  [tetractys]  were  a  point,"  etc.  as  above. 

The  ancient  Druidical  Freemasons  were  taught,  as  reported  by  Prichard,  that  there 
are  four  principles  in  masonry,  which  are  specified  agreeably  to  the  above  definition 
of  tetractys. 

These  four  principles  contained  in  the  tetractys  or  geometry,  comprehend  the  entire 
of  physical  nature,  and  on  this  account  the  enigma  of  the  perfectioR  of  the  number  four 
lias  been  erected- 

A  writer  on  masonry  (see  Carlile.  p.  99)  observes,  "That  the  Pythagoreans 
affirmed  the  tetractys,  or  number  four  to  be  the  sum  and  completion  of  all  things,  as 
comprising  the  four,  great  principles  both  of  arithmetic  and  geometry.  In  the  center  of 
a  masonic  lodge,  within  an  irradiation  or  blazing  star,  is  inscribed  the  letter  G,  denoting 
the  great  and  glorious  science  of  geometry,  as  cultivated  by  our  ancient  and  venerable 
masters."  And  adds,  "  Whilst  each  of  those  our  symbols  recipocally  serves  to  illustrate 
the  rest,  there  is  one  sense,  in  which  they  yield  to  the  decided  preeminence  of  the  great 
central  emblem,  whose  sacred  initial  character,  surrounded  by  a  blaze  of  glory,  recalls 
cur  minds  from  the  work  -to  the  architect,  from  the  science  to  its  mystery." 

The  Egyptians  invented  geometry,  and  they  found  it  of  such  infinite  importance,  that 
they  in  a  manner  deified  the  science.  Hence  the  great  respect  paid  to  its  initial  in 
masonry.  It  is,  in  fact,  made  to  indicate  the  Supreme  Being,  who,  according  to  the 
Pythagorean  doctrine,  was  mysteriously  involved  in  the  physical  principles  of  nature. 
Geometry  is  painted  as  a  lady,  with  a  sallow  face,  clad  in  a  green  mantle,  Cringed  with 
silver,  and  holding  a  silver  wand  [the  Nilometer]  in  her  right  hand. — Bailey. 

The  Eleusinian  mysteries  were  regularly  celebrated  every  fifth  year,  that  is,  after  a 
revolution  of  four  years.  Tho  Olympic  games  took  place  at  the  same  time,  the  name  of 
which  originated  from  their  being  first  celebrated  near  the  city  of  Olympia.  Hence  the 
olympiad,  an  epoch  of  four  years;  all  arising,  evidently,  from  the  perfection  attributed 
to  the  number  four. 


The  Customs  and  Religious  Dogmas^  of  the  Druids  of  England^ 
extracted  from  the  History  of  Great  Britain,  by  Robert 
Henry,  D.  D. 

When  the  Romans  first  invaded  Britain,  under  Julius  Caesar,  the 
inhabitants  of  it  were  famous,  even  among  foreign  nations,  for  their 
superior  knowledge  of  the  principles,  and  the  great  zeal  for  the  rites  of 
their  religion. 

To  say  nothing  here  of  the  profits  which  the  Druids  derived  from 
the  administration  of  justice,  the  practice  of  physic,  and  teaching  the 
sciences,  (which  were  all  in  their  hands,)  they  certainly  received  great 
emoluments  from  those  whom  they  instructed  in  the  principles,  and  ini- 
tiated into  the  mysteries  of  their  theology;  especially  from  such  of 
them  as  were  of  high  rank,  and  came  from  foreign  countries. 

27 


210  CUSTOMS    AND    DOGMAS 

Nothing  can  be  affirmed  with  certainty,  concerning  the  precise  num- 
ber of  the  British  Druids,  though,  in  general,  we  have  reason  to  believe, 
that  they  were  very  numerous.  Both  the  Gauls  and  the  Britons  of 
these  times  were  much  addicted  to  superstition ;  and  among  a  supersti- 
tious people,  there  will  always  be  many  priests.  Besides  this,  they  enter- 
tained an  opinion,  as  we  are  told  by  Strabo,  which  was  highly  favor- 
able to  the  increase  of  the  priestly  order.  They  were  fully  persuaded, 
that  the  greater  number  of  Druids  they  had  in  their  country,  they  would 
obtain  the  more  plentiful  harvests,  and  the  greater  abundance  of  all 
things.  Nay,  we  are  directly  informed  by  Caesar,  that  great  numbers  of 
people,  allured  by  the  jionors  and  privileges  which  they  enjoyed,  embraced 
the  discipline  of  the  Druids  of  their  own  accord,  and  that  many  more 
were  dedicated  to  it  by  their  parents.  Upon  the  whole,  therefore,  we 
shall  probably  not  be  very  much  mistaken,  if  we  suppose  that  the  Bri- 
tish Druids  bore  as  great  a  proportion  in  number  to  the  rest  of  the  peo- 
ple, as  the  clergy  in  popish  countries,  bear  to  the  laity,  in  the  present 
age. 

The  Druids,  as  well  as  the  Gymnosophists  of  India,  the  Magi  o^ 
Persia,  the  Chaldeans  of  Assyria,  and  all  the  other  priests  of  antiquity, 
had  two  sets  of  religious  doctrines  and  opinions,  which  were  very  diffe- 
rent from  one  another.  The  one  of  these  systems  they  communicated 
only  to  the  initiated,  who  were  admitted  into  their  own  order,  and  at 
their  admission  were  solemnly  sworn  to  keep  that  system  of  doctrines  a 
profound  secret  from  all  the  rest  of  mankind.  Besides  this,  they  took 
several  other  precautions  to  prevent  these  secret  doctrines  from  transpir- 
ing. They  taught  their  disciples,  as  we  are  told  by  Mela,  in  the  most 
private  places,  such  as  caves  of  the  earth,  or  the  deepest  recesses  o^  the 
thickest  forests,  that  they  might  not  be  overheard  by  any  who  were  not 
initiated.  They  never  committed  any  of  these  doctrines  to  writing,  for 
fear  th'ey  should  thereby  become  public.  Nay,  so  jealous  were  some 
orders  of  these  ancient  priests  on  this  head,  that  they  made  it  an  inviola- 
ble rule  never  to  communicate  any  of  these  secret  doctrines  to  women, 
lest  they  should  blab  them.  The  other  system  of  religious  doctrines 
and  opinions  was  made  public,  being  adapted  to  the  capacities  and  super- 
stitious humors  of  the  people,  and  calculated  to  promote  the  honor  and 
opulence  of  the  priesthood. 

It  cannot  be  expected,  that  we  should  be  able  to  give  a  minute  detail 
,of  the  secret  doctrines  of  the  Druids.  The  Greeks  and  Roman  wri- 
ters, from  whom  alone  we  can  receive  information,  were  not  perfectly 
acquainted  with  them,  and  therefore  they  have  left  us  only  some  general 


OF    THE    DRUIDS.  \\^ 

hints,  and  probable  conjectures  about  them,  with  which  we  must  be  con- 
tented. The  secret  doctrines  of  our  Druids  were  much  the  same  with 
those  of  the  Gymnosophists  and  Brachmans  of  India,  the  Magi  of  Per^ 
sia,  the  Chaldeans  of  Assyria,  the  priests  of  Egypt,  and  of  all  the  other 
priests  of  antiquity.  All  these  are  frequently  joined  together  by  ancien^ 
authors,  as  entertaining  the  same  opinions  in  religion  and  philosophy, 
which  might  be  easily  confirmed  by  an  induction  of  particulars.  The 
truth  is,  there  is  hardly  anything  more  surprising  in  the  history  of  man- 
kind, than  the  similitude,  or  rather  identity,  of  the  opinions,  institutions, 
and  manners  of  all  these  orders  of  ancient  priests,  though  they  lived 
under  such  different  climates,  and  at  so  great  a  distance  from  one  ano- 
ther, without  intercourse  or  communication.  This  amounts  to  a  demon- 
stration, that  all  these  opinions  and  institutions  flowed  originally  from 
one  fountain.  The  secret  doctrines  of  the  Druids,  and  of  all  these  diffe- 
rent orders  of  priests,  were  more  agreeable  to  primitive  tradition  and 
right  reason,  than  their  public  doctrines ;  as  they  were  not  under  any 
temptation,  in  their  private  schools,  to  conceal  or  disguise  the  truth. 
It  is  not  improbable  that  they  still  retained,  in  secret,  the  great  doctrine 
of  one  God,  the  creator  and  governor  of  the  universe.  This,  which 
was  originally  the  belief  of  all  the  orders  of  priests  which  we  have 
mentioned,  was  retained  by  some  of  them  long  after  the  period  we  are 
now  considering,  [that  is  from  the  first  invasion  of  England  by  the 
Romans  under  Julius  Caesar,  fifty-five  years  before  the  Christian  era,  to 
the  arrival  of  the  Saxons,  A.  D.  449,]  and  might  therefore  be  known  to 
the  Druids  at  this  period.  This  is  one  of  the  doctrines  which  the  Brach- 
mans of  India  are  sworn  to  keep  secret:  "  That  there  is  one  God,  the 
creator  of  heaven  and  earth."  Caesar  acquaints  us,  tiiat  they  taught 
their  disciples  many  things  about  the  nature  and  perfections  of  God. 
Some  writers  are  of  opinion,  and  have  taken  much  learned  pains  to 
prove,  that  our  Druids,  as  well  as  the  other  orders  of  ancient  priests, 
taught  their  disciples  many  things  concerning  the  creation  of  the  world 
— the  formation  of  man — his  primitive  innocence  and  felicity — and  his 
fall  into  guilt  and  misery — the  creation  of  angels — their  rebellion  and 
expulsion  out  of  Heaven — the  universal  deluge,  and  the  final  destruc- 
tion of  this  world  by  fire;  and  that  their  doctrines  on  all  these  subjects 
were  not  very  different  from  those  which  are  contained  in  the  writings 
of  Moses,  and  other  parts  of  Scripture.  There  is  abundant  evidence 
that  the  Druids  taught  the  doctrine  of  the  immortality  of  the  souls  of  men' 
and  Mela  tells  us,  that  this  was  one  of  their  doctrines  which  they  were 
permitted  to  publish,  for  political  rather  than  religious  reasons. ,  "  There  is 


212  CUSTOMS    AND    DOGMAS 

one  thing  which  they  teach  their  disciples,  which  hath  been  made  known 
to  the  common  people,  in  order  to  render  them  more  brave  and  fearless  ; 
viz  :  "  that  souls  are  immortal,  and  that  there  is  another  life  after  the 
present."  Caesar  and  Diodorus  say,  that  the  Driiids  taught  the  Pytha- 
gorean doctrine  of  the  transmigration  of  souls  into  other  bodies.  This 
was  perhaps  their  public,  doctrine  on  this  subject,  as  being  most  level  to 
the  gross  conceptions  of  the  vulgar.  But  others  represent  them  as 
teaching  that  the  soul  after  deatK  ascended  into  some  higher  orb,  and 
enjoyed  a  more  sublime  felicity.  This  was  probably  their  private  doc- 
trine, and  real  sentiments.* 

But  however  agreeable  to  truth  and  reason,  the  secret  doctrines  of 
the  Druids  might  be,  they  were  of  no  benefit  to  the  bulk  of  mankind, 
from  whom  they  were  carefully  concealed.  For  these  artful  priests,  for 
their  own  mercenary  ends,  had  embraced  a  maxim,  which  hath  unhap- 
pily survived  them,  that  ignorance  was  the  mother  of  devotion,  and  that 
the  common  people  were  incapable  of  comprehending  rational  princi- 
ples, or  of  being  influenced  by  rational  motives ;  and  that  they  were 
therefore  to  be  fed  with  the  coarser  food  of  superstitious  fables.  This  is 
the  reason  assigned  by  Strabo,  for  the  fabulous  theology  of  the  ancients. 
"  It  is  not  possible  to  bring  women,  and  the  common  herd  of  mankind 
to  religion,  piety,  and  virtue,  by  the  pure  and  simple  dictates  of  reason. 
It  is  necessary  to  call  in  the  aids  of  superstition,  which  must  be  nou- 
rished by  fables  and  portents  of  various  kinds.  With  this  view  there- 
fore were  all  the  fables  of  ancient  theology  invented,  to  awaken  super- 
stitious terrors  in  the  minds  of  the  ignorant  multitude."  As  the  Druids 
had  the  same  ends  in  view  with  the  other  priests  of  antiquity,  it  is  highly 
probable  that  their  public  theology  was  of  the  same  complexion  with 
theirs;  consisting  of  a  thousand  mythological  fables,  concerning  the 
genealogies,  attributes,  offices,  and  actions  of  their  gods ;  the  various 
superstitious  methods  of  appeasing  their  anger,  gaining  their  favor,  and 
discovering  their  will.  This  farrago  of  fables  was  couched  in  verse 
full  of  figures  and  metaphors,  and  a\  as  delivered  by  the  Druids  from  lit- 
tle eminences  (of  which  there  are  many  still  remaining)  to  the  surround- 

*  Man  is  placed,  according  to  their  [the  Druids']  doctrine,  says  Dr.  Lingard,  in  his 
history  of  England,  in  the  circle  of  courses :  good  and  evil  are  placed  before  nim  for  his 
selection.  If  lie  prefer  the  former,  death  transmits  him  from  the  earth  into  the  circle  of 
fdicity ;  but  if  he  prefer  the  latter,  death  returns  him  to  the  circle  of  courses :  he  is 
made  to  do  penance  for  a  time  in  the  body  of  a  beast  or  reptile^  and  then  permitted  to 
re-assume  the  form  of  man.  According  to  the  predominance  of  vice  or  virtue  in  his  dis- 
position, a  repetition  of  his  probation  may  be  necessary;  but  after  a  certain  number  of 
transmigrations  his  offences  will  be  expiated,  his  passions  subdued,  and  the  circle  of 
felicity  will  receive  him  among  its  inhabitants.— Edit 


OF    THE    DRUIDS.  213 

ing  maltitndes.  With  this  fabulous  divinity,  these  poetical  declaimers 
intermixed  moral  precepts,  for  the  regulation  of  the  lives  and  manners 
of  their  hearers ;  and  were  peculiarly  warm  in  exhorting  them  to  abstain 
from  doing  any  hurt  or  injury  to  one  another ;  and  to  fight  valiantly  in 
defence  of  their  country.  These  pathetic  declamations  are  said  to  have 
made  great  impression  on  the  minds  of  the  people,  inspiring  them  with 
a  supreme  veneration  for  their  gods,  an  ardent  love  to  their  country, 
an  undaunted  courage  and  sovereign  contempt  of  death.  The  secret  and 
public  theology  of  the  Druids,  together  with  their  system  of  morals  and 
philosophy,  had  swelled  to  such  an  enormous  size,  in  the  beginning  of 
this  period,  that  their  disciples  employed  no  less  than  twenty  years  in 
making  themselves  masters  of  all  their  different  branches,  and  in  getting 
by  heart,  that  infinite  multitude  of  verses  in  which  they  were  con. 
tained. 

The  sun  seems  to  have  been  both  the  most  ancient  and  most  univer- 
sal object  of  idolatrous  worship :  insomuch,  that  perhaps  there  never 
was  any  nation  of  idolaters,  which  did  not  pay  some  homage  to  this 
glorious  luminary.  He  was  worshipped  by  the  ancient  Britons  with 
great  devotion,  in  many  places,  under  the  various  names  of  Bel,  Beli- 
nus,  Belatucardus,  Apollo,  Grannius,  etc.,  all  which  names  in  their 
language  were  expressive  of  the  nature  and  properties  of  that  visible 
fountain  of  light  and  heat.  To  this  illustrious  object  of  idolatrous 
worship,  those  famous  circles  of  stones,  of  which  there  are  not  a  few 
still  remaining,  seem  to  have  been  chiefly  dedicated  :  Avhere  the  Druids 
kept  the  sacred  fire*  the  symbol  of  this  divinity,  and  from  whence,  as 
being  situated  on  eminences,  they  had  a  full  view  of  the  heavenly 
bodies. 

As  the  moon  appeared  next  in  lustre  and  utility  to  the  sun,  there 
can  be  no  doubt,  that  this  radient  queen  of  heaven  obtained  a  very 
early  and  very  large  share  in  the  idolatrous  veneration  of  mankind. 
The  Gauls  and  Britons  seem  to  have  paid  the  same  kind  oi  worship 
to  the  moon,  as  to  the  sun ;  and  it  hath  been  observed,  that  the  circular 
temples  dedicated  to  these  two  luminaries  were  of  the  same  construc- 
tion, and  commonly  contiguous.  But  a  great  number  of  the  gods  of 
Gaul  and  Britain,  as  well  as  of  Greece  and  Rome,  had  been  men,  vic- 
torious princes,  wise  legislators,  inventors  of  useful  arts,  etc. 


*  Like  the  ancient  Jew3  and  Persians,  the  Druids  had  a  sacred,  inextinguishable  fire, 
which  was  preserved  with  the  greatest  care.  At  Kildare,  (Ireland,)  it  was  guarded 
from  the  most  remote  antiquity,  by  an  order  of  Druidesses,  who  were  succeeded  in  later 
times  by  an  order  of  Christian  Nuns."— (Higgins'a  Celtic  Druids,  p.  2Q'i.)—Edit. 


214  CUBTOIttS    AND    DOGMAS 

They  worshipped  also  several  female  divinities  or  goddesses  ;  as 
Andraste,  who  is  supposed  to  have  been  the  same  with  Venus  or  Diana ; 
Minerva,  Ceres,  Proserpine,  etc.  Nay,  into  such  an  abyss  of  superstition 
and  idolatry  were  they  sunk,  that  according  to  Gildas,  they  had  a  greater 
number  of  gods  than  the  Egyptians ;  and  there  was  hardly  a  river, 
lake,  mountain,  or  wood,  which  was  not  supposed  to  have  some  divini- 
ties, or  genii  residing  in  them. 

As  it  hath  always  been  one  end  of  religious  worship,  to  obtain  cer- 
tain favors  from  the  objects  of  it,  so  prayers  and  suplications  for  these 
favors,  have  always  made  a  part  of  the  religious  worship  of  all  nations, 
and  in  particular  of  that  of  the  ancient  Britons.  When  in  danger, 
they  implored  the  protection  of  their  gods ;  ])rayers  were  intermixed 
with  their  praises,  accompanied  their  sacrifices,  and  attended  every  act 
of  their  religion.  It  seems,  indeed,  to  have  been  the  constant,  invaria- 
ble practice  of  all  nations,  the  Jews  not  excepted,  whenever  they  pre- 
sented any  offerings  or  sacrifices  to  their  gods,  to  put  up  prayers  to 
them  to  be  propitious  to  the  persons  by  whom  and  for  whom  the  offer- 
ings or  sacrifices  were  presented ;  and  to  grant  them  such  particular 
favors  as  they  desired.  Offerings  of  various  kinds  constituted  an  im- 
portant part  of  the  religion  of  the  ancient  Britons.  This  was  a  mode 
of  worship,  which  the  Druids  very  much  encouraged,  and  their  sacred 
places  were  crowded  with  those  pious  gifts. 

Mankind  in  all  ages,  and  in  every  country,  have  betrayed  a  con- 
sciousness of  guilt,  and  dread  of  punishment  from  superior  beings,  on 
that  occount.  In  consequence  of  this,  they  have  employed  various 
means  to  expiate  the  guilt  of  which  they  were  conscious,  and  to 
escape  the  punishment  of  which  they  were  afraid.  The  means  which 
have  been  most  universally  employed  by  mankind  for  these  ends,  were 
sacrifices  of  living  creatures  to  their  offended  gods  ;  which  constituted 
a  very  essential  part  of  the  religion  of  the  ancient  Britons,  and  of 
almost  all  other  ancient  nations.  The  animals  which  were  sacrificed 
by  them,  as  well  as  by  other  nations,  were  such  as  they  used  for  their 
own  food ;  which  being  very  palatable  and  nourishing  to  themselves, 
they  imagined  would  be  no  less  agreeable  to  their  gods.  These  vic- 
tims were  examined  by  the  Druids  with  great  care,  to  see  that  they 
were  the  most  perfect  and  beautiful  in  their  several  kinds ;  after  which 
they  were  killed,  with  various  ceremonies,  by  priests  appointed  for 
that  purpose.  On  some  occasions  the  victims  were  consumed  entirely 
by  fire  upon  the  altar ;  but  more  commonly  they  were  divided  into 
three  parts,  one  of  which  was  consumed  upon  the  altar,  another  fell  to 


OF    THE    DRUIDS.  215 

the  share  of  the  'priests  who  officiated ;  and  on  the  third,  the  person 
who  bought  the  sacrifice,  feasted  with  his  friends. 

It  had  been  well,  if  our  British  ancestors  had  confined  themselves 
to  the  sacrificing-  of  oxen,  sheep,  goats,  and  other  animals  ;  but  we 
have  undoubted  evidence,  that  they  proceeded  to  the  most  horrid  lengths 
of  cruelty  in  their  superstition,  and  offered  human  victims  to  their  gods. 
It  had  unhappily  become  an  article  in  the  Druidical  creed,  "  That 
nothing  but  the  life  of  man  could  atone  for  the  life  of  man."  In  conse- 
quence of  this  maxim,  their  altars  streamed  with  human  blood,  and 
great  numbers  of  wretched  men  fell  a  sacrifice  to  their  barbarous  super- 
stition. They  are  said  indeed  to  have  preferred  such  as  had  been 
guilty  of  thieft,  robbery,  and  other  crimes,  as  most  acceptable  to  their 
gods ;  but  when  there  was  a  scarcity  of  criminals,  they  made  no  scru- 
ple to  supply  their  place  with  innocent  persons.  These  dreadful  sacri- 
fices were  oflfered  by  the  Druids  for  the  public,  at  the  eve  of  a  danger- 
ous war,  or  in  the  time  of  any  national  calamity ;  and  for  particular 
persons  of  high  rank,  when  they  were  afflicted  with  any  dangerous  dis- 
ease. By  such  acts  of  cruelty  did  the  ancient  Britons  endeavor  to 
avert  the  displeasure,  and  gain  the  favor  of  their  gods. 

It  seems  to  have  been  one  article  in  the  creed  of  the  ancient  Britons 
8.nd  of  all  the  other  nations  of  antiquity,  that  the  gods  whom  they  wor- 
shipped had  the  government  of  the  world,  and  the  direction  of  future 
events  in  their  hands  ;  and  that  they  were  not  unwilling  upon  proper 
application,  to  discover  these  events  to  their  pious  worshippers.  *'  The 
gods  (says  Amianus,)  either  from  the  benignity  of  their  own  natures, 
and  their  love  to  mankind,  or  because  men  have  merited  this  favor 
from  them,  take  a  pleasure  in  discovering  impending  events  by  various 
indications."  This  belief  gave  rise  to  astrology,  augury,  magic,  lots, 
and  an  infinite 'multitude  of  religious  rites  and  ceremonies;  by  which 
deluded  mortals  hoped  to  discover  the  counsels  of  Heaven,  with  regard 
to  themselves  and  their  undertakings.  We  learn  from  Pliny,  that  the 
ancient  Britons  were  greatly  addicted  to  divinition,  and  excelled  so 
much  in  the  practice  of  all  its  arts,  that  they  might  have  given  a  lesson 
to  thrr  Persians  themselves. 

The  British  sovereigns  of  this  period  had  not  much  authority  either 
in  the  making  or  executing  the  laws,  which  are  the  principal  acts  of 
government  in  peaceful  times.  In  that  great  relaxation  of  political 
union  and  civil  government  which  prevailed  in  times  of  peace,  their  reli- 
gion seems  to  have  been  the  chief  bond  of  union  among  the  British 
tribes  and  nations;  and  the  Druids,  who  were  the  ministers  of  that  reli- 


216  CUSTOMS    AND    DOGMAS 

gioD,  appear  to  have  professed  the  sole  authoxity  of  making,  explaining 
and  executing  the  laws ;  an  authority  to  which  the  clergy  of  the  church 
of  Rome  long  and  eagerly  aspired,  but  never  fully  obtained.  One  great 
reason  of  the  superior  success  of  the  D;uids  in  their  ambitious  schemes 
was  this:  the  laws  among  the  ancient  Britons,  and  some  other  ancient 
nations,  were  not  considered  as  the  decrees  of  their  princes,  but  as  the 
commands  of  their  gods;  and  the  Druids  were  supposed  to  be  the  only 
persons  to  whom  the  gods  communicated  the  knowledge  of  their  com- 
mands, and  consequently  the  only  persons  who  could  declare  and 
explain  them  to  the  people.  The  violations  of  the  laws  were  not  con- 
sidered as  crimes  against  the  prince  or  state,  but  as  sins  against  Heaven; 
for  which  the  Druids,  as  the  ministers  of  Heaven,  had  alone  the  right 
of  taking  vengeance.  All  these  important  prerogatives  of  declaring, 
explaining,  and  executing  the  laws,  the  Druids  enjoyed  and  exercised 
in  their  full  extent.  "  All  controversies,  says  Cassar,  both  public 
and  private  are  determined  by  the  Druids.  If  any  crime  is  committed, 
or  any  murder  perpetrated ;  if  any  disputes  arise  about  the  division  of 
inheritances,  or  the  boundaries  of  estates,  they  alone  have  the  right  to 
pronounce  sentence;  and  they  are  the  only  dispensers  both  of  rewards 
and  punishments.  These  ghostly  judges  had  one  engine  which  con- 
tributed much  to  procure  submission  to  their  decisions.  This  was  the 
sentence  of  excommunication  or  interdict,  which  they  pronounced 
against  particular  persons,  or  whole  tribes,  when  they  refused  to  sub- 
mit to  their  decrees.  The  interdicts  of  the  Druids  were  no  less  dread- 
ful than  those  of  the  Popes,  when  their  power  was  at  its  greatest  height. 
The  unhappy  persons  against  whom  they  were  fulminated,  were  not 
only  excluded  from  all  sacrifices  and  religious  rites  ;  but  they  were  held 
in  universal  detestation,  as  impious  and  abominable;  their  company  was 
avoided  as  dangerous  and  contaminating ;  they  were  declared  incapable 
of  any  trust  or  honor,  put  out  of  the  protection  of  the  laws,  and  exposed 
to  injuries  of  every  kind.*  A  condition  which  must  have  rendered  life 
intolerable,  and  have  brought  the  most  refractory  spirits  to  submission. 
The  first  day  of  May  was  a  great  annual  festival,  in  honor  of  Bel- 


*  Here  doubtless  is  the  source  of  the  severity  said  to  be  enjoined  upon  the  masonic 
brotherhood  towards  backsUdinff  or  contumacious  members ;  but  the  tolerant  spirit  of 
the  age  has,  no  doubt,  left  the  threats  held  out  in  this  case,  a  mere  dead  letter.  Masons 
expel  their  members  for  immoral  conduct,  and  so  do  all  other  religious  societies.  They 
have  a  practice,  however,  in  this  regard,  that  appears  reprehensible,  which  is,  to  pubhsh 
in  their  registers,  the  names  of  all  those  who  have  had  the  misfortune  to  be  expelled 
from  the  order.  This  tends  to  fix  an  indelible  stigma  upon  the  character  of  an  offend- 
ing brother,  prejudicial  not  only  to  himself,  but  to  his  family  connections.  The  list  con- 
taming  names  of  delinquents,  should  never  be  permitted  to  go  beyond  the  walls  of  the 
lodge  room.— Edit. 


OF    THE    DKUIDS.  31T 

inus,  or  the  sun.  On  this  day  prodigious  fires  were  kindled  in  all 
their  sacred  places,  and  on  the  tops  of  all  their  cairns,  and  many  sacri- 
fices were  offered  to  that  glorious  luminary,  which  now  began  to  shine 
upon  them  with  great  warmth  and  lustre.  Of  this  festival  there  are  still 
some  vestiges  remaining,  both  in  Ireland  and  m  the  Highlands  of  Scot- 
land, where  the  first  of  May  is  called  Beltain,  that  is,  the  fire  of  Bel,  or 
Belinus.*  Midsummer-day  and  the  first  of  November,  were  likewise 
annual  festivals ;  the  one  to  implore  the  friendly  influences  of  heaven 
upon  their  fields,  and  the  other  to  return  thanks  for  the  favorable  sea- 
sons and  the  fruits  of  the  earth ;  as  well  as  to  pay  their  yearly  contri- 
butions to  the  ministers  of  their  religion.  Nay,  it  is  even  probable,  that 
all  their  gods  and  goddesses,  their  sacred  groves,  their  hallowed  hills, 
lakes,  and  fountains,  had  their  several  anniversary  festivals ;  so  that  the 
Druidish  calendar  was  perhaps  as  much  crowded  with  holidays  as  the 
popish  one  is  at  present.  On  these  festivals,  after  the  appointed  sacri- 
fices and  other  acts  of  devotion  were  finished,  the  rest  of  the  time  was 
spent  in  feasting,  singing,  dancing  and  all  kinds  of  diversions. 

It  was  an  article  in  the  Druidical  creed,  "  That  it  was  unlawful  to 
build  temples  to  the  gods :  or  to  worship  them  within  walls  and  under 
roofs."  All  their  places  of  worship  therefore  were  in  the  open  air, 
and  generally  on  eminences,  from  whence  they  had  a  full  view  of  the 
heavenly  bodies,  to  whom  much  of  their  adoration  was  directed.  But 
that  they  might  not  be  too  much  incommoded  by  the  winds  and  rains, 
distracted  by  the  view  of  external  objects,  or  disturbed  by  the  intrusion 
of  unhallowed  feet,  when  they  were  instructing  their  disciples,  or  per- 
forming^ their  religious  rites,  they  made  choice  of-the  deepest  recesses 
of  groves  and  woods  for  their  sacred  places.  These  groves  were  planted, 
for  that  purpose,  in  the  most  proper  situations,  and  with  those  trees  in 
which  they  most  delighted.  The  chief  of  these  was  the  strong  and 
spreading  oak,  for  which  tree  the  Druids  had  a  very  high  and  super- 
stitious veneration.  These  sacred  groves  were  watered  by  some  conse- 
crated fountain  or  river,  and  surrounded  by  a  ditch  or  mound,  to  prevent 
the  intrusion  of  improper  persons.!     In  the  centre  of  the  grove  was  a 

♦  I  am  inclined  to  think  the  author  has  mistaken  the  cause  of  these  illuminations, 
and  that  they  were  originally  signals  for  a  general  purification,  mentioned  by  Pluche, 
in  which  every  thing  subject  to  decay,  for  the  benefit  of  health,  was  consumed  by  fire, 
on  the  first  of  February  in  Egypt.  They  were  called  the  festival  of  the  Jire-brands ; 
which  name  probably  became  changed,  in  consequence  of  the  orig^in  and  intention  of 
the  custom  having  been  lost. — Edit. 

t  Where  (says  masonry)  did  our  ancient  brethren  meet,  before  lodges  were  erected? 
Answer.  Upon  holy  ground,  or  the  highest  hill,  or  lowest  vale,  or  any  other  secret 
place;  the  better  to  guard  against  cowans  and  enemies." — Edit. 

28 


218  CUSTOM    AND    DOGMAS 

circular  area,  inclosed  with  one  or  two  rows  of  large  stones  set  perpen- 
dicular in  the  earth ;  which  constituted  the  temple,  within  which  the 
altar  stood,  on  which  the  sacrifices  were  offered.  In  some  of  their  most 
magnificent  temples,  as  particularly  in  that  of  Stone-henge,  they  had 
laid  stones  of  prodigious  weight  on  the  tops  of  the  standing  pillars, 
which  formed  a  kind  of  circle  aloft  in  the  air,  and  added  much  to  the 
grandeur  of  the  whole. 

The  British  Druids  were  in  the  zenith  of  their  power  and  glory  at 
this  period ;  enjoying  an  almost  absolute  authority  over  the  minds  and 
persons  of  their  own  countrymen ;  and  being  greatly  admired  and  resorted 
to  by  strangers.  But  as  the  Romans  gained  ground  in  this  island,  the 
power  of  the  Druids  gradually  declined,  until  it  was  quite  destroyed. 
For  that  victorious  people,  contrary  to  their  usual  policy,  discovered 
every  where  a  very  great  animosity  against  the  persons  and  religion  of 
the  Druids.  They  deprived  the  Druids  of  all  authority  in  civil  matters* 
and  showed  them  no  mercy  when  they  found  them  trangressing  the  laws, 
or  concerned  in  any  revolt. 

Such  of  the  Druids  as  did  not  think  fit  to  submit  to  the  Roman 
government,  and  comply  with  the  Roman  rites,  fled  into  Caledonia* 
Ireland,  and  the  lesser  British  isles,  where  they  supported  their  authority 
for  some  time  longer.  Many  of  them  retired  into  the  isle  of  Anglesey, 
which  was  a  kind  of  little  world  of  their  own  ;  and  where  the  Arch 
Druid  of  Britain  is  thought  to  have  had  his  stated  residence.  But  they 
did  not  long  remain  undisturbed  in  this  retirement.  For  Suetonius 
Paulinus,  who  was  governor  of  Britain  under  Nero,  A.  D.  61,  observ- 
ing that  the  isle  of  Anglesey  was  the  great  seat  of  disaffection  to  the 
Roman  government,  and  the  asylum  of  all  who  were  forming  plots 
against  it,  determined  to  subdue  it.  Having  conducted  his  army  to  the 
island,  and  defeated  the  Britons,  who  attempted  to  defend  it,  though  they 
were  animated  by  the  presence,  the  prayers,  and  the  exhortations  of  a 
great  multitude  of  Druids  and  Druidesses,  he  made  a  very  cruel  use  of 
his  victory.  Not  content  with  cutting  down  their  sacred  groves, 
demolishing  their  temples,  overturning  their  altars,  he  burned  many  of 
ihem  in  the  fires,  which  they  had  kindled  for  sacrifising  the  Roman  pri- 
soners, if  the  Britons  had  gained  the  victory.  So  many  of  the  Druids 
perished  on  this  occasion,  and  the  unfortunate  revolt  under  Boadicia, 
queen  of  the  Iceni,  which  happened  soon  afler,  that  they  were  never 
able  to  make  any  considerable  figure  after  this  period. 

But  though  the  dominion  of  the  Druids  in  South  Britain  was  des- 
troyed at  this  time,,  many  of  their  superstitious   practices   continued 


OF    THE    DRUIDS.  219 

much  longer.  Nay  so  deeply  rooted  were  these  principles  in  the 
minds  of  the  people  both  of  Gaul  and  Britain,  that  they  not  only  bafled 
all  the  power  of  the  Romans,  but  they  even  resisted  the  superior  power 
and  divine  light  of  the  gospel  for  a  long  time  after  they  had  embraced 
the  Christian  religion.  This  is  the  reason  that  we  meet  with  so  many 
edicts  of  emperors,  and  canons  of  councils,  in  the  sixth,  seventh,  and 
eight  centuries,  against  the  worship  of  the  sun,  moon,  mountains,  riv- 
ers, lakes,  and  trees.  This  superstition  continued  even  longer  in  Bri- 
tain than  in  some  other  countries,  having  been  revived  first  by  the 
Saxons,  and  afterwards  by  the  Danes.  It  is  a  sufficient  proof  of  thist 
that  so  late  as  the  eleventh  century,  in  the  reign  of  Canute,  it  was 
found  necessary  to  make  the  following  law  against  those  heathenish 
superstitions :  "  We  strictly  discharge  and  forbid  all  our  subjects  to 
worship  the  gods  of  the  gentiles ;  that  is  to  say,  the  sun,  moon,  fires, 
rivers,  fountains,  hills  or  trees,  and  wood  of  any  kind." 

Extract  from  Dr.  LingarcCs  History  of  England. 

To  the  veneration  which  the  British^  Druids  derived  from  their 
sacerdotal  character,  must  be  added  the  respect  which  the  reputation  of 
knowledge  never  fails  to  extort  from  the  ignorant.  They  professed  to 
be  the  repositories  of  a  sacred  science,  far  above  the  comprehension  of 
the  vulgar :  and  their  schools  were  opened  to  none  but  the  sons  of  illus- 
trious families.  Such  was  their  fame,  that  the  Druids  of  Gaul,  to  attain 
the  perfection  of  the  institute,  did  not  disdain  to  study  under  their 
British  brethren.  They  professed  to  be  acquainted  with  the  nature, 
the  power,  and  the  providence  of  the  divinity ;  with  the  figure,  size, 
formation,  and  final  destruction  of  the  earth  ;  with  the  stars,  their  posi. 
tion  and  motions,  and  their  supposed  influence  over  human  affairs. 
They  practiced  the  art  of  divination  and  magic.  Three  of  their 
ancient  astrologers  were  able,  it  is  said,  to  foretel  whatever  should  hap- 
pen before  the  ^ay  of  doom.  To  medicine  also  they  had  pretensions: 
but  their  knowledge  was  principally  confined  to  the  use  of  the  miseltoe, 
vervain,  savin,  and  trefoil ;  and  even  the  efficacy  of  these  simples  was 
attributed  not  the  nature  of  the  plants,  but  to  the  influence  of  prayers 
and  incantations. 

From  the  Edinburgh  Encyclopedia. 

The  garment^  of  the  Druids  were  remarkably  long ;  and,  when 
employed  in  religious  ceremonies,  they  always  wore  a  white  surplice. 


220  CUSTOMS    AND    DOGMAS 

They  generally  carried  a  tca7Ki  in  their  hands ;  and  wore  a  kind  of 
ornament  enchased  in  gold  about  their  necks,  called  the  Druid! s  egg. 
Their  necks  were  likewise  decorated  with  gold  chains,  and  their  hands 
and  arm »  with  bracelets :  they  wore  their  hair  very  short,  and  their 
beards  remarkably  long. 

The  Druids  had  one  chief,  or  Arch-druid,  in  every  nation,  w^ho 
acted  as  high-priest,  or  pontifex  maximus.  They  had  absolute  authority 
over  the  rest :  and  commanded,  decreed,  punished,  etc.  at  pleasure. 
He  was  .elected  from  amongst  the  most  eminent  Druids,  by  a  plu- 
rality of  votes. 

They  worshipped  the  Supreme  Being  under  the  name  of  Esus,  or 
Hesus*  and  the  symbol  of  the  oak  ;  and  had  no  other  temple  than  a 
wood  or  a  grove,  where  all  their  religious  rites  were  performed.  Nor 
was  any  person  admitted  to  enter  that  sacred  recess,  unless  he  carried 
with  him  a  chain,  in  token  of  his  absolute  dependence  on  the  Deity- 

The  consecrated  groves,  in  which  they  performed  their  religious 
rites,  were  fenced  round  w^ith  stones,  to  prevent  any  persons  entering 
except  through  the  passages  left  open  for  that  purpose,  and  which  were 
guarded  by  some  inferior  Druids,  to  prevent  any  stranger  from  intrud- 
ing into  their  mysteries.  These  groves  were  of  different  forms  ;  some 
quite  circular,  others  oblong,  and  more  or  less  capacious  as  the  votaries 
in  the  districts  to  which  they  belonged  were  more  or  less  numerous. 


In  the  chuin  carried  by  the  ancient  Britons,  in  the  performonce  of  their  religious  rites, 
is  to  be  seen  the  archetye  of  the  cable- tow,  or  tow-rope,  worn  about  the  neck  of  the  aspi- 
rant  to  masonic  secrets  ;  which  is  the  subject  of  much  ridicule  among  the  uninitiated 
profane,  and,  indeed,  the  fraternity  themselves  do  not  seem  to  be  aware  of  its  true 
import.  They  are  not  conscious  that  this  humble  badge  is  a  testimony  of  their  belief  in 
God,  their  dependence  on  him,  and  their  solemn  obligations  to  devote  themselves  to  his 
will  and  service. 

The  candidate  for  masonic  instruction  should  be  looked  upon  as  an  untutored,  wild 
man  of  the  woods  :  a  mere  child  of  nature,  imregenerated  and  destitute  of  any  khowl- 
edge  of  the  true  God,  as  well  as  the  conveniences  and  comforts  of  civilized  life.    For 


♦  *'  Horus,  says  Pluche,  assumed  the  casque  and  buckler,  when  levies  or  recruits  were 
intended.  He  was  then  called  Harits,  that  is,  the  mighty,  the  formidable,  (violentes. 
Job  XV.  20.)  The  Syrians  softened  this  word  and  pronounced  Hazis.  We  find  the 
same  word  hazis  or  hesus,  used  to  signify  the  terrible  in  war.  "  The  Lord  strong  and 
mighty,  the  Lord  mighty  in  battle.''^  Ps.  xxiv.  8.  Others  pronounced  it  without  aspira- 
tion, and  said  Ares  ;  others  with  a  very  harsh  and  rough  aspiration,  and  pronounced 
Warets.  This  figure  of  Horus  in  a  warlike  dress,  became  the  god  of  combats.  He 
evidently  is  the  Asis  of  the  inhabitants  of  Edesse,  the  Hczus,  of  the  Gauls,  the  Area  of 
the  Greeks,  the  Warts  or  Mars  of  the  Sabines  and  hntins  "—Edii. 


OF    TUB    DRUSDS.  221 

this  reason,  he  ie  exhibited  blindfolded,  "Neither  naked  nor  clothed,"  but  about  halfway 
between  both. 

Here  also  may  be  seen  the  type  of  the  masonic  Tiler,  an  inferior  officer,  with  a 
drawn  sword,  to  guard  the  lodge  from  the  impertinent  intrusion  of  cowans,  or  father 
covins,  and  eavesdroppers.  It  will  not  be  pretended  that  a  sword  is  needed  in  this  case  ; 
it  is  a  mere  ensign  of  office,  in  conformity  to  the  Druidical  custom. 


The  following  extracts  from  Hume's  History  of  England,  wiU 
account  for  the  slow  introduction  of  Christianity  among  the  ancient 
Britons. 

The  most  memorable  event  which  distinguished  the  reign  of  this 
great  prince  [Ethelbert,]  was  the  introduction  of  the  Christian  religion 
among  the  English  Saxons.  The  superstition  of  the  Germans,  particu- 
larly that  of  the  Saxons,  was  of  the  grossest  and  most  barbarous  kind, 
and  being  founded  on  traditionary  tales  received  from  their  ancestors, 
not  reduced  to  any  system,  nor  supported  by  political  institutions  like 
that  of  the  Druids,  it  seems  to  have  made  little  impression  on  its  vota- 
ries, and  to  have  easily  resigned  its  place  to  the  new  doctrine  promul- 
gated to  them. 

On  the  contrary,  the^  constant  hostilities  which  the  Saxons  main- 
tained against  the  Britons,  would  naturally  indispose  them  for  receiv- 
ing the  Christian  faith,  when  preached  to  them  by  such  inveterate  ene- 
mies. 

The  Saxons,  though  they  had  been  long  settled  in  the  island,  seem 
not  as  yet,  [early  part  of  the  ninth  century,]  to  have  been  much  im- 
proved beyond  their  German  ancestors,  either'  in  arts,  civilitj^  know- 
ledge, humanity,  justice,  or  obedience  to  the  laws.  Even  Christianity 
though  it  opened  the  way  to  connections  between  them  and  the  more 
polished  states  of  Europe,  had  not  hitherto  been  very  effectual  in  ban- 
ishing their  ignorance,  or  softening  their  barbarous  manners.  As  they 
received  that  doctrine  through  the  corrupted  channels  of  Rome,  it  car- 
ried along  with  it  a  great  mixture  of  credulity  and  superstition,  equally 
destructive  to  the  understanding  and  to  morals.  The  reverence  toward 
saints  and  reliques,  seems  to  have  almost  supplanted  the  adoration  of 
the  Supreme  Being.  Monastic  observances  were  esteemed  more 
meritorious  than  the  active  virtues ;  the  knowledge  of  natural  causes 
was  neglected,  from  the  universal  belief  of  miraculous  interposition  and 
judgments  ;  bounty  to  the  church  atoned  for  every  violence  against 
society :  and  the  remorses  for  cruelty,  murder,  treachery,  assassination, 
and  the  more  robust  vices,  were  appeased,  not  by  amendment  of  life, 


222  CUSTOMS    AND    DOUMAS 

but  l)y  penances,  servility  to  the  monks,  and  an  abject  and  illiberal 
devotion.  *  *  *  The  ecclesiastics,  in  those  days  of  ignorance,  [mid- 
dle of  the  ninth  century,]  made  rapid  advances  in  the  acquisition  of  pow- 
er and  grandeur ;  and  in  inculcating  the  most  absurd  and  most  inter- 
ested doctrines.  Not  content  with  the  donations  of  land  made  them  by 
the  Saxon  Princes  and  nobles,  ihey  had  cast  a  wishful  eye  on  a  vast 
revenue,  which  they  claimed  as  belonging  to  them,  by  a  sacred  and  in- 
defeasible title.  However  little  versed  in  the  scriptures,  they  had 
been  able  to  discover,  that,  under  the  Jewish  law,  a  tenth  of  all  the  pro- 
duce of  land  was  conferred  on  the  priesthood;  and,  forgetting  what 
they  themselves  taught,  that  the  moral  part  only  was  obligatory  on 
Christians,  they  insisted  that  this  donation  conveyed  a  perpetual  prop- 
erty, inherent,  by  divine  right,  in  those  who  officiated  at  the  altar. 
During  some  centuries,  the  whole  scope  of  sermons  and  homilies  was 
directed  to  this  purpose ;  and  one  would  have  imagined,  from  the  gene- 
ral tenor  of  these  discourses,  that  all  the  practical  parts  of  Christianity 
were  comprised  in  the  exact  and  fathful  payment  of  the  tithes  to  the 
clergy.  Encouraged  by  their  success  in  inculcating  these  doctrines, 
they  ventured  farther  than  they  were  warranted,  even  by  the  Levitical 
law,  and  pretended  to  draw  the  tenth  of  all  industry,  merchandize,  wages 
of  laborers,  and  pay  of  soldiers ;  nay,  some  canonists  went  so  far  as  to 
affirm,  that  the  clergy  were  entitled  to  the  tithe  of  the  profits  made  by 
-courtesans  in  the  exercise  of  their  profession. 

Slavery  in  England.. 

As  slaves  are  not  admitted  into  the  society  of  Freemasons,  it  may  be 
interesting  to  some  of  my  readers,  unacquainted  with  the  fact,  to  know 
the  vast  extent  of  the  evils  of  slavery  in  England  at  the  time  when  this 
institution  is  supposed  to  have  been  established,  and  the  great  propor- 
tion of  the  inhabitants,  particularly  of  the  mechanical  and  laboring 
classes,  that  were  consequently  excluded  from  a  participation  in  its 
charitable  and  benevolent  purposes.  I,  therefore,  give  the  following 
extract  from  Dr.  Henry's  History  of  the  different  ranks  of  people,  in 
Britain,  from  the  arrival  of  the  Saxons,  A.  D.  449,  to  the  landing  of 
William,  duke  of  Normandy,  1066. 

The  lowest  order  of  people  among  the  Anglo-Saxons,  and  the  other 
nations  of  Britain,  in  this  period,  were  slaves,  who  with  their  wives  and 
children  were  the  property  of  their  masters.  Besides  those  who  were 
native  slaves,  or  slaves  by  birth,  others  frequently  fell  into  this  wretched 


OF    THE    DRUIDS.  223 

State,  by  various  means  ;  as,  by  an  ill  run  at  play, — by  the  fate  of  war, 
or  by  forfeiting  their  freedom  by  their  crimes,  or  even  by  contracting 
debts  which  they  were  not  able  to  pay.  These  unhappy  people,  who 
were  very  numerous,  formed  an  article,  both  of  internal  and  foreign 
trade  ;  only  if  the  slave  was  a  Christian,  he  was  not  to  be  sold  to  a  Jew 
or  a  Pagan ;  or  if  he  belonged  to  the  same  nation  with  his  master,  he 
was  not  to  be  sold  beyond  the  sea.  Slaves  were,  however,  of  various 
kinds,  among  the  Anglo-Saxons,  employed  in  various  works,  and  were 
not  all  in  an  equal  state  of  thraldom.  Some  of  them  were  called  villani, 
or  villains,  because  they  dwelt  at  the  villages  belonging  to  their  mas. 
ters,  and  performed  the  servile  labors  of  cultivating  their  lands,  to 
which  they  were  annexed,  and  transferred  with  these  lands  from  one 
owner  to  another.  Others  were  domestic  slaves,  and  performed  various 
offices  about  the  houses  and  families  of  their  masters.  Some  of  these 
domestic  slaves  of  the  king  and  the  nobility,  were  taught  the  mechanic 
arts,  which  they  practised  for  the  benefit  of  their  owners ;  and  the 
greatest  number  of  the  mechanics  of  those  times  seem  to  have  been  in 
a  state  of  servitude.  Slaves  were  not  supposed  to  have  any  family  or 
relations  who  sustained  any  loss  by  their  death ;  and,  therefore,  when 
one  of  them  was  killed  by  his  master,  no  mulct  was  paid,  because  the 
master  was  supposed  to  be  the  only  loser ;  when  slain  by  another,  his 
price  or  manbote  was  paid  to  his  master.  In  a  word,  slaves  of  the 
lowest  order,  were  considered  merely  as  animals  of  burden,  and  parts 
of  their  owners'  living  stock.  In  the  laws  of  Wales  it  is  expressly 
said  :  *'  That  a  master  hath  the  same  right  to  his  slaves  as  to  his  cattle." 
Th'e  horrors  of  this  cruel  servitude  were  gradually  mitigated  ;  and 
many  of  those  unhappy  wretches  were  raised  from  this  abject  state  to 
the  privileges  of  humanity.  The  introduction  of  Christianity  contribu- 
ted not  a  little,  both  to  alleviate  the  weight  of  servitude,  and  diminish 
the  number  of  slaves.  By  the  canons  of  the  church,  which  were  in 
those'times  incorporated  with  the  laws  of  the  land,  and  of  the  same 
authority.  Christians  were  commanded  to  allow  their  slaves  certain 
portions  of  time  to  work  for  their  own  benefit,  by  which  they  acquired 
property, — the  bishops  had  authority  to  regulate  the  quantity  of  work  to 
be  done  by  slaves, — rand  to  take  care  that  no  man  used  his  slave  harshly 
but  as  a  fellow-Christian.  The  bishops  and  clergy  recommended  the 
manumission  of  slaves  as  a  most  charitable  and  meritorious  action  ^ 
and  in  order  to  set  the  example,  they  procured  a  law  to  be  made,  that 
all  English  slaves  of  every  bishop  should  be  set  at  liberty  at  his  death, 
and  that  every  other  bishop  and  abbot  in  the  kingdom  should  set  three 


J^4  CUSTOMS    AND    DOGMAS 

slaves  at  liberty.  But  after  all  these  miligations  of  the  severities  of 
slavery,  and  diminuitons  of  the  number  of  slaves,  the  yoke  of  servitude 
was  still  very  heavy,  and  the  greatest  part  of  the  laborers,  mechanics,  and 
common  people,  groaned  under  that  yoke  at  the  conclusion  of  this  period. 

The  next  class  or  rank  of  people  in  Britain,  in  this  period,  was 
composed  of  those  who  were  colled  frilazin  ;  who  had  been  slaves,  but 
had  either  purchased,  or  by  some  other  means  obtained  their  liberty. 
Though  these  were  in  reality  free-men,  they  were  not  considered  as  of  the 
same  rank  and  dignity  with  those  who  had  been  born  free  ;  but  were 
still  in  a  more  ignoble  and  dependent  condition,  either  on  their  former 
masters,  or  on  some  new  patrons.  This  custom,  the  Anglo-Saxons 
seemed  to  have  derived  from  their  ancestors  in  Germany,  among  whom 
those  who  had  been  made  free  did  not  differ  much  in  point  of  dignity 
or  importance  in  the  state,  from  those  who  continued  in  servitude. 
This  distinction,  between  those  who  had  been  made  free,  and  those 
who  enjoy  freedom  by  descent  from  a  long  race  of  freemen,  still  pre- 
vails in  many  parts  of  Germany;  and  particularly  in  the  original  seasts 
of  the  Anglo-Saxons,  Many  of  the  inhabitants  of  towns  and  cities  in 
England,  in  this  period,  seem  to  have  been  of  this  class  of  men,  who 
were  in  a  kind  of  middle  state,  between  slaves  and  freemen. 

The  third  class,  or  rank  of  people  in  Britain,  in  the  period  we  are 
now  considering,  consisted  of  those  who  were  completely  free,  and 
descended  from  a  long  race  of  freemen.  This  numerous  and  respecta- 
ble body  of  men,  who  were  called  ceorls  constituted  a  middle  class, 
between  the  laborers  and  mechanics,  who  were  generally  slaves,  or 
descended  from  slaves  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  nobility  on  the  other. 
They  might  go  where  they  pleased,  and  pursue  any  way  of  life  that 
was  most  agreeable  to  their  humor. — vol.  iii.  p.  320 

In  the  time  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  rule,  says  Dr.  Lingard,  not  less 
than  two  thirds  of  the  population  of  Britain,  existed  in  a  state  of  sla- 
very. And  the  sale  and  purchase  of  slaves  publicly  prevailed  during 
the  whole  of  this  period.  These  unhappy  men  were  sold  like  cattle 
in  the  market.  The  Northumbrians,  like  the  savages  of  Africa,  are 
said  to  have  carried  off,  not  only  their  own  countrymen,  but  even  their 
friends  and  relatives,  and  to  have  sold  them  as  slaves  in  the  ports  of  the 
continent.  The  men  of  Bristol  were  the  last  to  abandon  this  nefarious 
traffic.  Their  agents  travelled  into  every  part  of  the  country  ;  they 
were  instructed  to  give  the  highest  price  for  females  in  a  state  of  preg- 
nancy; and  the  slave  ships  regularly  sailed  from  that  port  to  Ireland, 
where  they  were  secure  of  a  ready  and  profitable  market. 


CHAPTER    V. 

OPINIONS     AND    OBSERVATIONS     OF     LEARNED     WRITERS     ON      FREE- 
ItfASONRY,    WHO    ARE    IN    FULL    COMMUNION    WITH   THE    ORDER. 

Most  of  those  writers  on  masonry  who  belong  to  the  craft,  either  through  ignorance 
or  design,  have  mystified  the  subject  in  such  a  manner  as  to  render  it,  not  only  unin- 
telligible, but  absolutely  forbidding.  The  opinions,  therefore,  of  those  of  the  order  who 
have  written  with  candor,  and  with  a  view  of  eliciting  the  truth,  so  far  as  they  deemed 
consistent  with  their  obligations,  are  entitled  to  great  consideration.  Such  are  the 
writings  from  which  the  following  extracts  are  made,  or,  at  least,  the  passages  selected 
generally  bear  that  character. 


From   "  The  Spirit  of  Masonry,^^  by  William  Hutchinson.     Carlisle^ 
{England,)  1802. 

I  am  induced  to  believe  the  name  of  mason  has  its  derivation  from  a 
language,  'm.  which  it  implies  some  strong  indication,  or  distinction,  of 
the  nature  of  the  society ;   and  that  it  has  no  relation  to  architects. 

The  titles  of  masons  and  masonry  most  probably  were  derived  from 
the  Greek  language,  as  the  Greek  idiom  is  adopted  by  the  Druids, 
as  is  shown  in  many  instances  in  the  course  of  this  work.  When 
they  committed  any  thing  to  writing,  they  used  the  Greek  alphabet — 
and  I  am  bold  to  assert  the  most  perfect  remains  of  the  Druidical  rites  and 
ceremonies  are  preserved  in  the  ceremonials  of  masons,  that  are  to  be 
found  existing  among  mankind.  My  brethren  maybe  able  to  trace 
them  with  greater  exactness  than  I  am  at  liberty  to  explain  to  the  pub- 
lic. The  original  names  may  probably  be  derived  from  or  corrupted 
oiMysterion,  res  arcana^  mysteries,  and  Mystes,  sacrisinitiatusmystis — 
those  initiated  to  sacred  mysteries.* 

There  is  no  doubt  that  our  ceremonies  and  mysteries  were  derived 
from  the  rites,  ceremonies,  and  institutions  of  the  ancients,  and  some  of 
them  from  the  remotest  ages. 

♦  The  English  word  mason  has  a  very  simple  origin ;  it  comes  from  macon,  French ; 
*'  From  masy  an  old  word  which  signifies  house;  thus  a  mason  is  a  person  who  makes 
houses." — (French  Enc.)  The  awkard  connection  which  architecture  is  made  to  bear 
towards  the  mysteries  involved  in  freemasonry,  is  easily  accounted  for  on  the  supposi- 
tion, which  is  undoubtedly  a  fact,  that  the  Druids  made  use  of  the  craft  of  masonry 
merely  as  a  cover  to  their  mystic  worship. 

29 


226  OPINIONS    OF    WRITERS 

The  ancient  masonic  record,  [the  examination  of  a  freemason  by 
Henry  VI.]  says,  that  masons  knew  the  way  of  gaining  an  understand" 
ing  of  Abrac.  On  this  word  all  commentators  (which  I  have  yet  read) 
on  the  subject  of  masonry,  have  confessed  themselves  at  a  loss. 

Abrac,  or  Abracar,  was  a  name  which  Basilides,  a  religious  of  the 
second  century,  gave  to  God,  who  he  said  was  the  author  of  three  hun- 
dred and  sixty-five. 

The  author  of  this  superstition  is  said  to  have  lived  in  the  time  of 
Adrian,  and  that  it  had  its  name  after  Abrasan,  or  Arbaxas,  the  deno- 
mination which  Basilides   gave  to  the  Deity He  called  him  the 

Supreme  God,  and  ascribed  to  him  seven  subordinate  powers  or  angels, 
who  presided  over  the  heavens  : — and  also,  according  to  the  number  of 
the  days  in  the  year,  he  held  that  three  hundred  and  sixty-five  virtues, 
powers,  or  intelligences,  existed  as  the  emanations  of  God :  the  value,  or 
numerical  distinctions  of  the  letters  in  the  word,  according  to  the  ancient 

Greek  numerals,  made  365 A  B  P  A  X  A  2. 

1     2  100    1    60    1   200. 

With  antiquaries,  Abraxas  is  an  antique  gem  or  stone,  with  the 
word  abraxas  engraven  on  it.  There  are  a  great  many  kinds  of  them, 
of  various  figures  and  sizes,  mostly  as  old  as  the  third  century.  Per- 
sons professing  the  religious  principles  of  Basilides,  wore  this  gem 
with  great  veneration,  as  an  amulet ;  from  whose  virtues,  and  the  pro. 
tection  of  the  Deity,  to  whom  it  was  consecrated,  and  with  whose  name 
it  was  inscribed,  the  wearer  presumed  he  derived  health,  prosperity, 
and  safety. 

In  the  British  museum  is  a  beryl  stone,  the  form  of  an  eg^.  The 
head  is  in  camio,  and  reversed  in  taglio.  The  head  is  supposed  to 
represent  the  image  of  the  Creator,  under  the  denomination  of  Jupiter 
Ammon : — the  sun  and  moon  on  the  reverse,  the  Osiris  and  his  of  the 
Egyptians ;  and  were  used  hieroglyphically  to  represent  the  omnipo- 
tence, omnipresence,  and  eternity  of  God.  The  star  seems  to  be  used 
as  a  point  only,  but  is  an  emblem  of  prudenccr  the  third  emanation  of 
the  Basilidian  divine  person. 

In  church  history,  Abrax  is  noted  as  a  mystical  term,  expressing 
the  Supreme  God ;  under  whom  the  Basil idians  supposed  three  hun- 
dred and  sixty-five  dependent  deities  ;  it  was  the  principle  of  the  gnostic 
hierarchy  ;  whence  sprang  their  multitudes  of  Thaeons.  From  Abraxas 
proceeded  their  primogcenial  mind ;  from  the  primogaenial  mind»  the 
logos  or  word ;  from  the  logos,  the  PhroncBsis  or  prudence :  from 
phronsesis,  Sophia  and  Dynamis,  or  wisdom  and  strength ;  from  these 


ON    FREEMASONRY.  227 

two  ^proceeded  principalities,  potvers,  and  angels ;  and  from  these  other 
angels,  of  the  number  of  three  hundred  and  sixty-five,  who  Avere  sup- 
posed to  have  the  government  of  so  many  celestial  orbs  committed  to 
their  care.  The  Gnostics  were  a  sect  of  Christians  having  particular 
tenets  of  faith ;  they  assumed  their  name  to  express  that  new  knowledge 
and  extraordinary  light  to  which  they  made  pretensions ;  the  word 
gnostic  imply. iig  an  enlightened  person. 

Jupiter  Ammon,  was  worshipped  under  the  symbol  of  the  sun.  He 
was  painted  with  horns,  because  with  the  astronomers  the  sign  Aries  in 
the  zodiac  is  the  beginning  of  the  year :  when  the  sun  enters  into  the 
house  of  Aries,  he  commences  his  annual  course.  Heat,  in  the  Hebrew 
tongue  is  Hammah,  and  in  the  prophet  Isaiah  Hammamin  is  given  as  a 
name  of  such  images.  The  error  of  depicting  him  with  horns,  grew 
from  the  doubtful  signification  of  the  Hebrew  word,  which  at  once 
expresses  heat,  splendor,  or  brightness,  and  also  horns. 

"  The  sun  was  also  worshipped  by  the  house  of  Judah,  under  the 
name  of  Tamuz,  for  Tamuz,  saith  Hierom,  was  Adonis,  and  Adonis  is 
generally  interpreted  the  sun,  from  the  Hebrew  word  Adan  signifying 
dominus,  the  same  as  Baal  or  Moloch,  formerly  did  the  lord  or  prince 
of  the  pi  znets.  The  month  which  we  call  June,  was  by  the  Hebrews 
called  Tamuz ;  and  the  entrance  of  the  sun  into  the  sign  cancer  ,was  in 
Jews'  astronomy  termed  Tekupha  Tamuz,  the  revolution  of  Tamuz. — 
About  the  time  of  our  Saviour,  the  Jews  held  it  unlawful  to  pronounce 
that  essential  name  of  God,  Jehovah ;  and  instead  thereof,  read  Adonai, 
to  prevent  the  heathen  blaspheming  that  holy  name,  by  the  adoption  of 
the  name  of  Jove,  etc.  to  the  idols.  Concerning  Adonis,  whom  some 
ancient  authors  call  Osiris,  there  are  two  things  remarkable:  the  death 
or  loss  of  Adonis,  and  the  finding  of  him  again :  as  there  was  great 
lamentation  at  his  loss,  so  was  there  great  joy  at  his  finding.  By  the 
death  or  loss  of  Adonis,  we  are  to  understand  the  departure  of  the  sun  • 
by  his  finding  again,  the  return  of  that  luminary.  Now  he  seemeth  to 
depart  twice  in  the  year ;  first,  when  he  is  in  the  tropic  of  cancer,  in  the 
farthest  degree  northward  ;  and,  secondly,  when  he  is  in  the  tropic  of 
Capricorn,  in  the  farthest  degree  southward.  Hence  we  may  note,  that 
the  Egyptians  celebrated  their  Adonia  in  the  month  of  November,  when 
the  sun  began  to  be  farthest  southward,  and  the  house  of  Ju(ilah  theirs  in 
the  month  of  June,  when  the  sun  was  farthest  northward;  yet  both 
were  for  the  same  reasons.  Some  authors  say,  that  this  lamentation  was 
performed  over  an  image  in  the  night  season  ;  and  when  they  had  suf- 
ficiently lamented,  a  candle  was  brought  into  the  room,  which  ceremony 


228  OPINIONS    OF    WRITERS 

might  mystically  denote  the  return  of  the  sun,  then  the  priest  with  a 
soft  voice,  muttered  this  form  of  words,  "  Trust  ye  in  God,  for  out 
of  pains  salvation  is  come  unto  usJ^ — Godwyn!s  Moses  and  Aaron. 

Our  ancient  record,  which  I  have  mentioned,  brings  us  positive  evi- 
dence of  the  Pythagorean  doctrine,  and  Basilidian  principles,  making 
the  foundation  of  our  religious  and  moral  rules. 

As  the  servants  of  one  God,  our  predecessors  professed  the  temple, 
wherein  the  deity  approved  to  be  served,  was  not  the  work  of  men's 
hands.  In  this  the  Druids  copied  after  them :  the  universe,  they  con- 
fessed, was  filled  with  his  presence,  and  he  was  not  hidden  from  the 
most  distant  quarters  of  creation :  they  looked  upwards  to  the  heavens 
as  his  throne,  and  wheresoever  under  the  sun,  they  worshipped,  they 
regarded  themselves  as  being  in  the  dwelling  place  of  the  divinity,  from 
whose  eye  nothing  was  concealed.  The  ancients  not  only  refrained 
from  building  temples,  but  even  held  it  utterly  unlawful;  because  they 
thought  no  temple  spacious  enough  for  the  sun,  the  great  symbol  of  the 
deity.  "  Mundus  universus  est  templum  solis*^^  was  their  maxim ;  they 
thought  it  profane  to  set  limits  to  the  infinity  of  the  deity  ;  when,  in  later 
ages,  they  built  temples,  they  left  them  open  to  the  heavens,  and 
unroofed. 

As  we  derived  many  of  our  mysteries  and  moral  principles  from  the 
doctrines  of  Pythagoras,  who  had  acquired  his  learning  in  Egypt,  and 
others  from  the  Phoenicians,  who  had  received  the  Egyptian  theology 
in  an  early  age,  it  is  not  to  be  wondered  that  we  should  adopt  Egyptian 
symbols,   to    represent  or   express    the   attributes    of   the  Divinity. 

The  third  emanation  of  Abrax,  in  the  Gnostic  hierarchy,  was 
PhronaBsis,  the  emblem  of  Prudence,  which  is  the  first  and  most  exalted 
object  that  demands  our  attention  in  the  Lodge.  It  is  placed  in  the 
centre,  ever  to  be  present  to  the  eye  of  the  mason,  that  his  heart  may  be 
attentive  to  her  dictates,  and  steadfast  in  her  laws  ; — for  prudence  is  the 
rule  of  all  virtues  ; — prudence  is  the  path  which  leads  to  every  degree 
of  propriety  ; — prudence  is  the  channel  whence  self-approbation  flows 
for  ever : — she  leads  us  forth  to  worthy  actions,  and  as  a  Blazing  Star, 
enlighteneth  us  through  the  dreary  and  darksome  paths  of  this  life.f 

♦  The  maxim  of  the  ancients,  that  "  The  whole  world  was  the  temple  of  the  sun," 
does  not  indicate  that  they  looked  upon  the  sun  as  the  symbol  of  the  Deity,  but  as  the 
Deity  itself. 

t  It  is  a  difficult  task  for  masons  to  make  out  any  thing  respecting  this  blazing 
star,  that  has  the  least  semblance  of  reason.  They  find  it  among  the  symbols,  but  are 
not  aware  how  it  came  there,  and  endeavor  to  make  the  best  of  it  they  possibly  can. 
The  reader  will  recollect  that  it  is  Anubis  the  dog-siar,  who  warned  the  Egyptians  to 
retire  from  the  plain  with  their  produce,  to  avoid  the  destructive  effects  of  Sie  inuada- 
tion. 


ON    FREEMASONRY.  229 

That  innocence  should  be  the  professed  principle  of  a  mason,  occa- 
sions no  astonishment,  when  we  consider  that  the  discovery  of  the 
Deity  leads  us  to  the  knowledge  of  those  maxims  wherewith  he  may 
be  well  pleased.  The  very  idea  of  a  God,  is  succeeded  with  the  belief, 
that  he  can  approve  of  nothing  that  is  evil ;  and  when  first  our  prede- 
cessors professed  themselves  servants  of  the  Architect  of  the^ world,  as 
an  indispensable  duty,  they  professed  innocence,  and  put  on  white 
raiment,  as  a  type  and  characteristic  of  their  conviction,  and  of  their 
being  devoted  to  his  will.  The  Druids  were  apparelled  in  white,  at 
the  time  of  their  sacrifices  and  solemn  offices.  The  Egyptian  priests  of 
Osiris  wore  snow-white  cotton  in  the  service  of  Ceres,  [Isisl  under  whom 
was  symbolized  the  gift  of  Providence  in  the  fruits  of  the  earth — and 
the  Grecian  priests  also  put  on  white. 

Every  degree  of  sin  strikes  the  rational  mind  of  man  with  some 
feelings  of  self-condemnation.  Under  such  conviction,  who  could  call 
upon,  or  claim  the  presence  of  a  Divinity,  whose  demonstration  is  good 
works? — Hence  are  men  naturally  led  to  conceive,  that  such  Divinity 
will  accept  only  of  works  of  righteousness.  Standing  forth  for  the 
approbation  of  heaven,  the  servants  of  the  first  revealed  God,  bound 
themselves  to  maxims  of  purity  and  virtue ;  and  as  masons,  we  regard 
the  principles  of  those  who  were  the  first  worshippers  of  the  true  God, 
we  imitate  their  apparel,  and  assume  the  badge  of  innocence. 


In  this  pretension  of  the  author,  that  the  predecessors  of  the  freemasons  were  the 
first  to  discover  the  true  God,  an  allusion  is  evidently  made  to  the  Egyptians,  who 
seem  to  have  been  great  boasters  in  this  respect. 

"  The  most  ancient  of  the  profane  historians,  and  he  who  speaks  in  the  most  learned 
manner  of  the  religion  of  the  Egyptians,  is  Herodotus.  The  Egyptians,  according  to 
him,  are  the  first  people  in  the  world  who  knew  the  names  of  the  twelve  great  gods,  and 
from  them  the  Greeks  had  learnt  them.  They  too  are  the  first  who  erected  altars  to 
the  gods,  made  representations  of  them,  raised  temples  to  them,  and  had  priests  for 
their  service,  excluding  wholly  the  other  sex  from  the  priesthood.  Never  was  any  peo- 
ple, continues  he,  more  religious.  They  even  had  two  sorts  of  writing,  the  one  common, 
and  the  other  sacred ;  and  this  last  is  set  apart  solely  for  the  mysteries  of  religion. 
Their  priests  shave  their  whole  body  every  third  day.  Clothed  in  linen,  with  sandala 
made  of  the  plant  papirus,  they  are  not  allowed  to  wear  other  apparel,  nor  other  cover- 
ing for  their  feet.  They  are  obliged  to  bathe  themselves  in  cold  water  twice  a  day,  and 
as  often  by  night.  So  scrupulously  exact  must  the  priests  be  in  the  choice  of  the  victims 
which  th«y  are  to  offer  to  their  gods,  that  they  are  punished  with  death  if  they  offer  up 
any  which  have  not  the  qualities  requisite."    Mayo's  Myth.  v.  11.  p.  27. 

The  color  of  white's  being  made  a  symbol  of  purity  and  innocence  probably  owes  its 
origin  to  the  following  absurd  notions  of  the  ancients  : 


230  OPINIONS    OF    WRITERS 

"As  the  constellations  of  summer  accompanied  the  season  of  long,  warm  and 
unclouded  days,  and  that  of  fruits,  and  harvests,  they  were  considered  as  the  powers  of 
light,  fecundity  and  creation,  and  by  a  transition  from  a  physical  to  amoral  sense,  they 
became  genii,  angels  of  science,  of  benificence,  of  purity  and  virtue  :  and  as  the  constel- 
lations of  winter  were  connected  with  long  nights  and  polar  fogs,  they  were  the  geni^ 
of  darkness,  of  destruction,  of  death,  and,  by  transition,  angels  of  ignorance,  of  wicked- 
ness, of  sin  and  vice. 

"Now,  as  the  earthly  states,  the  greater  part  despotic,  had  already  their  monarchs, 
and  as  the  sun  was  apparently  the  monarch  of  the  skies,  the  summer  hemisphere, 
empire  of  light,  and  its  constellations,  a  people  of  white  angels,  had  for  king  an  enlight- 
ened God,  a  creator  intelligent  and  good.  And  as  every  rebel  faction  must  have  its 
chief,  the  heaven  of  winter,  the  subterraneous  empire  of  darkness  and  woe,  and  its  stars, 
a  people  of  black  angels,  giants  or  demons,  had  for  their  chief  a  malignant  genius,  whose 
character  was  applied  by  different  people  to  the  constellation  which  to  them  was  the 
most  remarkable. — Ruins  p.  144-5. 

"  The  priests,  says  Dupuis,  clothe  themselves  in  white,  a  color  assigned  to  Aromaze 
or  the  god  of  light." 

The  superstition,  or  rather  affectation  in  regard  to  this  color,  is  still  retained  among 
some  Christian  sects,  whose  priests  cover  themselves  with  this  pagan,  outward  show  of 
purity. 

It  is  somewhat  remarkable  that  white  as  an  emblem  of  purity  and  innocence  should 
have  descended  to  the  oborigines  of  America.  The  prophet,  who  accompanied  Black 
Hawk  and  other  chiefs  to  Washington  as  hostages  for  the  faithful  performance  of  the 
treaty  made  with  their  nation,  (1833)  thus  addressed  the  President  of  the  United  States : 

"  Father  I  have  come  this  day  clothed  in  white  (pointing  to  his  leather  doublet)  in 
order  to  prove  that  my  intentions  are  of  the  most  pacific  nature,  and  (raising  his  hands 
to  heaven)  I  call  upon  the  great  spirit  of  myself  and  forefathers  to  witness  the  purity  of 
my  heart  on  this  occasion." 


In  this  country,  [England]  under  the  Druids,  the  first  principles  of 
o«r  profession  most  assuredly  were  taught  and  exercised. 

We  are  bold  to  say,  that  if  we  trace  the  antiquity  of  masonry  on 
operative  principles,  and  derive  such  principles  from  the  building  of 
Solomon's  Temple,  we  may  as  well  claim  all  the  professions  which 
Hiram  excelled  in. 

Assuredly  the  secrets  revealed  to  us  were  for  other  uses  than  what 
relate  to  labouring  up  masses  of  stone;  and  our  society,  as  it  now 
stands,  is  an  association  on  religious  and  charitable  principles  ;  which 
principles  were  instituted  and  arose  upon  the  knowledge  of  God. 

We  ground  a  judgment  of  the  nature  of  our  profession  on  our  cere- 
monials, and  flatter  ourselves  every  mason  will  be  convinced  that  they 
have  no  relation  to  building  and  architecture,  but  are  emblematical,  and 
imply  moral,  and  spiritual,  and  religious  tenets.  It  appears  self-evi- 
dent, that  the  situation  of  the  Lodge,  and  its  several  parts,  are  copied 


ON    FREEMASONRY.  231 

after  the  Tabernacle  and  Temple,  and  are  representative  of  the  universe 
implying  that  the  universe  is  the  temple  in  which  the  Deity  is  every 
where  present;*  our  mode  of  teaching  the  principles  of  our  profession, 
is  derived  from  the  Druids  ;  our  maxims  of  morality,  from  Phythago- 
ras ;  our  chief  emblems,  orignally  from  Egypt ;  to  Basilides  we  owe  the 
science  of  Abrax,  and  the  characters  of  those  emanations  of  the  Deity 
which  we  have  adopted,  and  which  are  so  necessary  for  the  main- 
tenance of  a  moral  society. 

Our  Lodges  are  not  now  appropriated  to  worship  and  religions 
ceremonies ;  we  meet  as  a  social  society,  inclined  to  acts  of  benevolence, 
and  suffer  the  more  sacred  offices  to  rest  unperformed.  Whether  this 
neglect  is  to  our  honor,  we  presume  not  to  determine ;  in  our  present 
state  professing  ourselves  free  and  accepted  masons,  we  are  totally 
severed  from  architects,  and  are  become  a  set  of  men  working  in  the 
duties  of  charity,  good  offices,  and  brotherly  love. 

From  the  ancient  rites  and  ceremonies  which  we  have  laid  before 
you,  it  will  be  easy  for  you  to  trace  the  origin  of  our  own  rites,  and  to 
discover  the  foundations  on  which  our  society  is  formed. 

We  have  explained  to  you,  that  the  structure  of  the  Lodge  is  a  pat- 
tern of  the  universe,  and  that  the  first  entry  of  a  mason  represents  the 
first  worship  of  the  true  God.  We  have  retained  the  Egyptian  symbols 
of  the  sun  and  moon,  as  the  emblems  of  God's  power,  eternity,  omnipre- 
sence, and  benevolence ;  and  thereby  we  signify,  that  we  are  the  chil- 
dren of  light,  and  that  the  first  foundation  of  our  profession,  is  the 
knowledge  and  adoration  of  almighty  Mesouraneo,  who  seateth  himself 
in  the  centre  of  the  heavens  : — we  derive  from  the  Druids  many  of  the 
Amonian  rites  ;  and  have  saved  from  oblivion,  many  of  their  religious 
rites,  in  our  initiation  to  the  first  degree  of  masonry,  which  otherwise 
would  have  slept  in  eternity.  These  we  seem  to  have  mixed  and 
tempered  with  the  principles  of  the  Essenes,  who  are  a  sect  as 
ancient  as  the  departure  of  the  children  of  Israel  out  of  Egypt.  The 
philosophy  of  the  Egyptians,  and  the  manners,  principles,  and  customs 
of  the  Hebrews,  were  introduced  to  this  land  by  the  Phoenicians,  and 
make  a  part  of  our  profession,  so  far  as  they  are  adapted  to  the  worship 
of  Nature's  great  Author,  unpolluted  by  idolatry. 

We  hold  our  grand  festival  on  the  day  of  St.  John,  which  is  mid- 
summer day ;    in  which  we  celebrate  that  season  when  the  sun  is  in  its 

*  This  was  a  pagan  principle,  according  to  the  author's  own  showing  above.  The 
fact  is,  the  tabernacle,  as  well  as  the  temple  of  Solomon,  appear  to  have  been  con- 
structed upon  the  same  plan  as  the  temples  of  the  ancients. 


!B9i  OPINIOJ^i    OF    WRITERS 

greatest  altitude,  and  in  the  midst  of  its  prolific  powers :  the  great  type 
of  the  omnipotence  of  the  Deity. 

We  are  not  to  search  for  our  antiquity  in  the  mythology  of 
Greece  or  Rome,  we  advance  into  remoter  ages.  Religion  was  the 
original  and  constituent  principle ;  a  recognition  of  the  Deity^^rst  dis- 
tinguished us  from  the  rest  of  mankind  ;  our  predecessors  searched  for 
the  divine  essence  in  the  wonders  displayed  on  the  face  of  nature — they 
discovered  supreme  wisdom  in  the  order  of  the  universe — in  the  stel- 
lary  system  they  traced  the  power,  in  the  seasons  and  their  changes  the 
bounty,  and  in  animal  life  the  benevolence  of  God ;  every  argument 
brought  with  it  conviction,  and  every  object  confirmation,  that  all  the 
wonders  displayed  to  the  eye  of  man,  were  only  to  be  produced  by  some 
superlative  being,  and  maintained  by  his  superintendency.  It  was 
from  such  conviction,  that  men  began  to  class  themselves  in  religious 
societies. 

I  may  venture  to  assert,  it  was  the  only  consequence  which  could 
ensue,  whilst  men,  were  looking  up  to  the  Divinity  through  his  works, 
that  they  would  conclude  the  sun  was  the  region,  where,  in  celestial 
glory,  the  Deity  reposed. 

We  discover  in  the  Amonian  and  Egyptian  rites,  the  most  perfect 
remains  of  those  originals,  to  whom  our  society  refers.  We  are  told  they 
esteemed  the  soul  of  man  to  be  an  emanation  of  the  Supreme,  and  a 
spirit  detached  from  the  seraphic  bands,  which  filled  the  solar  mansions, 
and  surrounded  the  throne  of  majesty.  They  looked  up  to  this  grand 
luminary,  as  the  native  realm  from  whence  they  were  sent  on  this 
earthly  pilgrimage,  and  to  which  they  should,  in  the  end,  return  ;  the 
figure  of  the  sun  was  at  once  a  memorial  of  their  divine  origin,  a  badge 
of  the  religious  faith  they  professed,  and  a  monitor  of  those  principles, 
which  should  conduct  and  ensure  their  restoration.  How  soon,  or  to 
what  extreme,  superstition  and  bigotry  debased  this  emblem,  is  a 
research  painful  and  unprofitable. 

We  masons  have  adopted  three  particular  characteristics,  §ecrec^, 
charity,  andfefetbe«iy  love.  Our  sense  of  these  great  duties  has  been 
explained,  and  of  what  especial  import  they  are  to  masons  ;  or  to  men 
who  have  separated  themselves  from  the  rest  of  mankind,  and  professed 
they  are  servants  of  Him  who  ruleth  in  the  midst  of  heaven.  ^ 

If  our  ceremonies  mean  not  the  matter  which  has  been  expressed; 
if  they  imply  not  the  moral  and  religious  principles  which  we  have 
endeavored  to  unvail;  it  may  be  asked  of  you,  masons,  what  they  do 
imply,  import,  or  indicate  ? 


ON    FREEMASONRY.  233 

Genius  of  Masonry. 

Samuel  L.  Knapp,  Esq.,  in  a  work  entitled  "  The  Genius  of  Masonry, 
or  a  Defence  of  the  Order,"  in  taking  notice  of  the  late  discoveries  made 
by  Champollion  and  others,  of  the  hidden  wisdom  of  the  Egyptians,  by 
ascertaing  a  clue  to  the  understanding  of  their  hieroglyphics,  observes  : 

"  These  distinguished  men  who  have  embarked  with  so  much  of 
that  zeal  which  is  necessary  for  the  accomplishment  of  any  great  object, 
will,  we  trust,  be  permitted  to  entirely  draw  the  veil  of  Isis  which  has 
covered  her  mysteries  so  long  that  the  world  began  to  despair  of  ever 
seeing  the  glories  it  concealed.  Behind  this  veil  of  Isis  I  have  long 
thought  was  concealed  our  masonic  birth.  I  now  fully  believe  it. 
There  was  the  cradle  of  masonry :  no  matter  by  what  name  it  was 
called:  no  matter  by  whom  it  was  enjoyed." — p.  99. 

An  Ahimav,  Rezon  ;* 

By  brother  Frederick  Dalcho,  M.  D.,  Charleston,  S.  C,  1807.  Containing  extracts 
from  an  Oration  dehvered  by  him,  before  the  grand  lodge  of  South  Carolina,  1801  • 
from  which  the  following  is  taken. 


In  the  earliest  age  of  man,  when  the  human  mind,  untainted  by 
the  vices  and  prejudices  of  later  times,  un&hackled  by  the  terrors  and 
anathemas  of  contending  sectaries,  and  the  machinations  of  biggotted 
priests,  the  God  of  nature  received  the  homage  of  the  world,  and  the 
worship  of  his  adorable  name  constituted  the  principal  employment  of 
him,  to  whom  the  mysteries  of  nature  were  first  revealed.  After  the 
deluge,  the  worship  of  the  Most  High  was  obscured  by  clouds  of 
imagery,  and  defiled  by  idolatry. 

In  many  of  the  ancient  nations  of  the  east,  their  religious  rights 
were  enveloped  by  the  priests,  in  allegories,  emblems,  hieroglyphics, 
and  mystic  devices,  which  none  could  understand,  but  those  of  their 
own  order.  From  these  ancient  examples,  the  mysteries  of  the  craft 
have  been  wisely  concealed  from  the  vulgar  ;  and  under  cover  of  vari- 
ous well  adapted  symbols,  is  conveyed  to  the  enlightened  freemason  an 
uniform  and  well  connected  system  of  morality. 

I  am  of  opinion  that  the  ancient  society  of  free  and  accepted 
masons  was  neverabody  of  architects;  that  is,  they  were  not,  origi- 

♦  The  book  of  constitution  is  usually  denominated,  Ahiman  Rezon:  which  is  a  cor- 
ruption of  three  Hebrew  words,  achi  maji  ratzon,  which  signifie  the  thoughts,  or  opin- 
ions, of  a  true  and  faithful  brother. 

30 


534  "  OPINIONS    OF    WRITERS 

nally,  embodied  for  the  purposes  of  building,  but  were  associated  for 
moral  and  religious  purposes.  It  must  be  evident  to  every  freemason, 
that  the  situation  of  the  lodge,  and  its  several  parts,  are  copied  after  the 
tabernacle  and  temple  ;  and  represent  the  universe  as  the  temple 
in  which  the  Deity  is  every  where  present.  Our  manner  of  teaching 
the  principles  of  our  mystic  profession  is  derived  from  the  Druids,  who 
worshipped  one  supreme  God,  immense  and  infinite  ;  our  maxims  of 
morality  from  Pythagoras,  who  taught  the  duties  we  owe  to  God  as  our 
creator,  and  to  man  as  our  fellow  creature;  many  of  our  emblems  are 
originally  from  Egypt;  the  science  of  Abrax,  and  the  characters  of  those 
emanations  of  the  Deity,  which  we  have  adopted,  are  derived  from  Bas- 
ilides. 

The  word  Mason  is  derived  from  the  Greek,  and,  literally,  means 
a  member  of  a  religious  sect,  or  one  who  is  professedly  devoted  to  the 
worship  of  the  Deity.* 

As  humanity  ever  springs  from  true  religion,  every  religious  sect, 
which  acknowledges  the  Supreme  Being,  are  equally  respected  by  the 
order.  Religious  disputes  are  banished  from  our  societies,  as  tending 
to  sap  the  foundations  of  friendship,  and  to  undermine  the  basis  of  the 
best  institutions.  The  great  book  of  nature  is  revealed  to  our  eyes  ; 
and  the  universal  religion  of  her  God,  is  what  we  profess,  as  freema- 
sons. 


Dr.  Dalcho  published  a  second  edition  of  his  Ahiman  Rezon,  with  additions  and 
explanatory  notes,  in  1822.  And  it  may  not  be  improper  to  state,  that  previously  to 
this  period  he  had  taken  clerical  orders  :  which  perhaps  caused  him  to  examine  the 
masonic  institution  more  critically  than  he  had  done,  to  ascertain  if  it  contained  any- 
thing inconsistent  with  his  sacerdotal  functions.  At  any  rate,  a  change  in  his  opinions 
on  some  points,  seems  to  have  taken  place ;  which  are  set  forth  in  his  explanatory 
notes,  from  which  the  following  extracts  are  taken. 


Origin  of  Freehiasonry. 

The  principles  of  our  order,  are  coeval  with  the  creation.  Founded 
upon  the  laws  of  nature,  and  the  commands  of  God,  nothing  had  pre- 
cedence of  them  in  time.  The  origin  of  the  society,  however,  as  an 
institution  distinct  from  other  associations,  is  involved  in  impenetrable 
obscurity.  And  notwithstanding  the  learning  and  zeal  of  many  indus- 
trious masons,  it  will,  I  fear,   forever  remain  unknown.      Various 

♦  The  author  here  adopts  Hutchinson's  conjecture,  upon  trust,  which  has  been  shown 
t<rbe  erroneous. 


ON    FREEMASONRY.  235 

indeed,  have  been  the  speculations  on  this  subject ;  and  great  has  been 
the  labor  expended  by  many  "  good  men  and  true,"  to  prove  that  every 
man  of  note,  from  Adam  down  to  the  present  day,  were  freemasons. 
But  such  round  assertions  are  beneath  the  dignity  of  the  order,  and 
would  not  be  urged  by  men  of  letters.  Neither  Adam,  nor  Noah,  nor 
Nimrod,  nor  Moses,  nor  Joshua,  nor  David,  nor  Solomon,  nor  Hiram, 
nor  St.  John  the  Baptist,  nor  St.  John  the  Evangelist,  belonged  to  the 
masonic  order,  however  congenial  their  principles  may  have  been. 
It  is  unwise  to  assert  more  than  we  can  prove,  and  to  argue  against 
probability.  Hypothesis  in  history  is  absurd.  There  is  no  record, 
sacred  or  profane,  to  induce  us  to  believe  that  these  holy  and  distin- 
guished men,  were  freemasons,  and  our  traditions  do  not  go  back  to 
their  days.  To  assert  that  they  were  freemasons,  may  "make  the  vul- 
gar stare,"  but  will  rather  excite  the  contempt,  than  the  admiration  of 
the  wise.  If  St.  John  was  a  freemason,  then  it  is  impossible  that  Solo- 
mon should  have  been  one,  because  his  lodges  could  not  have  been 
dedicated  to  St.  John,  who  was  not  born  until  a  thousand  years  after 
the  first  temple  was  built,  therefore,  there  would  have  been  in  St.  John's 
day,  what  there  was  not  in  Solomon's,  which  would  be  contrary  to  our 
known  principles.  And  besides  if  both  these  personages  were  freema- 
sons, then  we  have  the  evidence  that  Solomon  was  the  greater  mason 
of  the  two,  and  our  lodges  should  be  dedicated  to  him,  instead  of  St. 
John.  But  if  Solomon  was  a  freemason,  then  there  could  not  have 
been  a  freemq^son  in  the  world,  from  the  day  of  the  creation,  down  to 
the  building  of  the  temple,  as  must  be  evident  to  every  master-mason. 

The  excellence  of  our  institution  depends  upon  its  usefullness,  and 
not  its  antiquity.  It  is  sufficient  for  us  to  know,  that  the  origin  of  the 
institution  is  so  remote,  that  the  date  is  lost  in  the  lapse  of  ages,  and 
can  now  only  be  indistinctly  traced  by  occasional  records,  and  the  tra- 
ditions of  the  order. 

Dr.  Priestly,  in  his  remarks  on  Mr,  Dupuis'  Origin  of  all  Religions, 
classes  the  freemasons  and  Gypsies  together.  He  affirms  that,  "  they 
have  formed  themselves  into  a  body,  though  of  a  very  heterogeneous 
kind,  but  are  not  able  to  give  any  rational  account  of  their  origin." 
(Institutes  of  Moses  page  336.)  The  philosopher  has  certaily  placed  us 
in  bad  company,  by  classing  us  with  these  vagrants ;  but  his  inference  is 
nevertheless  true.  The  purposes  for  which  our  institution  was  originally 
organized,  are  now  as  unknown  as  the  date  of  its  origin.  Whether  it 
was  designed  for  architectural  purposes,  for  the  improvement  of  the  arts 
and  sciences,  or  for  the  preservation  of  revealed  religion,  by  significant 
symbols  and  impressive  rights,  in  an  idolatrous  and   barbarous  age 


136  OPINIONS    OF    WRITERS 

cannot  now  be   ascertained.     Perhaps  all  these  objects  gave  rise  or 
perfection  to  the  institution. 

When  the  Hindoos  claim  for  their  Shastras  an  antiquity  of  more 
than  two  millions  of  years;  when  the  Chaldeans  boast  of  observations 
of  the  stars  for  more  than  four  hundred  and  seventy  thousand  years, 
and  Manetho  Sebennyta,  the  high  priest  of  Heliopolis,  claims  for  the 
Egyptians,  a  national  existence  of  near  fifty-four  thousand  years,  who 
would  hesitate  to  pronounce  them  all  fabulous?  Let  freemasons,  then, 
give  up  the  vain  boastings,  which  ignorance  has  foisted  into  the  order, 
and  relinquish  a  fabulous  antiquity  rather  than  sacrifice  common  sense. 
Let  us  trace  our  principles'to  Adam,  or  even  to  God  himself,  with  reve. 
rence  be  it  spoken,  but  let  us  not  excite  the  pity  of  the  wise,  by  calling 
Adam  a  freemason.  This  will  not  lessen  the  dignity  or  importance  of 
the  institution,  but  rather  add  to  its  celebrity  by  giving  it  a  reasonable 
origin.  

Mr.  Clinch  supposes  freemasonry  was  introduced  into  Europe  by  means  of  the 
Gypsies.    <See  Anthologia  Hibernica,  for  April,  1794,  p.  280  ) 

Although  this  is  a  very  ridiculous  supposition,  it  is  highly  probable  that  the  leaders  of 
the  first  emigrants  of  this  tribe  from  Egypt,  had  been  initiated  into  the  lesser  mysteries ; 
and  perhaps  copied  in  part  from  them  the  forms  of  the  oath  which  they  administer  to 
their  initiates.  * 

"  Every  person  who  was  not  guilty  of  some  public  crime,  could  obtain  admission  to 
the  lesser  mysteries.  Those  vagabonds  called  Egyptian  priests  in  Greece  and  Italy, 
required  considerable  sums  for  initiations;  and  the  Gypsies  practise  similar  mummeries 
to  obtain  money."— (DePuaw's  Egypt,  vol.  2.  p.  42.) 

The  customs  of  the  latter,  and  the  oath  which  they  impose  upon  each  other,  has 
been  preserved  by  Bdley ;  from  which,  as  a  curious  antique,  I  make  the  following 
extract. 

The  Gjrpsies  derive  their  origih  and  name  from  the  Egyptians,  a  people  heretofore 
very  famous  for  astronomy,  natural  magic,  the  art  of  divination,  etc.,  and  therefore, 
are  great  pretenders  to  fortune-idling. 

It  is  the  custom  of  these  vagrants  to  swear  all  that  are  admitted  into  their  fraternity, 
by  a  form  and  articles  annexed  to  it,  administered  by  the  principal  Maunder  or  roguish 
Strowler,  and  which  they  generally  observe  inviolably.  The  manner  of  admitting  a 
new  member,  together  with  the  eaid  oath  and  articles,  are  as  follows  : 

The  name  of  the  person  is  first  demanded,  and  a  nick-name  is  then  given  him  in  its 
stead,  by  which  he  is  ever  after  called,  and  in  lime,  his  other  name  is  quite  forgotten. 
Then  standing  up  in  the  middle  of  the  fraternity,  and  directing  his  face  to  the  Dimber- 
Damber,  or  prince  of  the  gang,  he  swears  in  this  manner,  as  is  dictated  to  him  by  on^ 
of  the  most  experienced. 

"  I,  Crank-Cuffin,  do  swear  to  be  a  true  brother,  and  will  in  all  things  obey  the 
commands  of  the  great  Tawney  Prince,  and  keep  his  counsel,  and  not  divulge  the 
secrets  of  my  brethren. 

I  will  never  leave  nor  forsake  this  company,  but  observe  and  keep  all  the  times 
of  appointments,  either  by  day,  or  by  night,  in  any  place  whatsoever. 

I  will  not  teach  any  one  to  cant ;  nor  will  I  disclose  ought  of  our  mysteries  to 
them,  although  they  flog  me  to  death. 


ON    FREEMASONRY.  237 

I  will  take  my  Prince's  part  against  all  that  shall  oppose  him,  or  any  of  us,  accor- 
ding to  the  utmost  of  my  ability;  nor  will  I  suffer  him,  or  any  belonging  to  us,  to  be 
abused  by  any  strange  Abrams,  Rufflers,  Hookers,  etc.,  but  will  defend  him  or  them 
as  much  as  I  can  against  all  other  outlyers  whatever. 

I  will  not  conceal  ought  I  win  out  of  Libkins.  or  from  the  Ruffmans;  but  will  pre- 
serve it  for  the  use  of  the  company." 

The  canters  have,  it  seems  a  tradition,  that  from  the  three  first  articles  of  this  oath, 
the  first  founders  of  a  certain  boastful,  worshipful  fraternity,  who  pretend  to  derive  their 
origin  from  the  earliest  times,  borrowed  of  them,  both  the  hint  and  form  of  their  estab- 
lishment. And  that  their  pretended  derivation  from  the  first  Adam,  is  a  forgery,  it 
being  only  from  the  first  Adam-Tiler. 

The  same  author  has  given  the  meaning  of  the  cant  terms  here  used  as  follows  : 

Abrams  ;  shabby  beggars.  Rufflers ;  notorious  rogues.  Hookers ;  petty  thieves, 
Libkin  ;  a  house  to  lie  in.  Ruffmans;  the  woods  or  bushes.  Adam-Tiler;  the  com- 
rade of  a  pick-pocket,  who  receives  stolen  goods  or  money,  and  scours  off  with  them. 


Festival  of  St.  John  the  Evangellai. 

In  every  country  where  freemasonry  is  encouraged,  their  anniver- 
sary festival  is  celebrated  with  great  ceremony.  It  is  a  day  set  apart 
by  ths  brotherhood,  to  worship  the  Supreme  Architect  of  heaven  and 
earth  ;  to  implore  his  blessings  upon  the  great  family  of  mankind  ;  and 
to  partake  of  the  feast  of  brotherly  affection.  All  who  can  spare  a  day 
from  their  necessary  avocations,  should  join  in  this  celebration.  The 
freemasons  of  South  Carolina  have  chosen  St.  John  the  Evangelist's 
day,  as  their  anniversary. 

The  annual  festival  of  the  order,  is  celebrated  in  some  places  on  St. 
John  the  Baptist's  day,  (June  24.)  and  in  others  on  St.  John  the  Evan- 
gelist's day,  (Dec.  27.)  The  latter  has  been  preferred  in  South  Caro- 
lina, on  account  of  the  heat  of  our  climate.  But  why  either  of  them 
should  be  chosen  in  preference  to  any  other  day,  is,  perhaps,  difficult 
to  explain.  I  know  of  no  connection  between  these  eminent  '•  Saints 
and  Servants"  of  God,  and  the  lodge  of  freemasons.  I  now  write  as  a 
minister  of  that  God,  to  whose  honor  and  glory,  my  life  is  devoted,  and 
to  whom  I  must,  ere  long,  give  an  account  of  my  stewardship.  I  think 
I  run  no  hazard  of  contradiction  in  saying  that  if  either  of  these  most 
holy  men,  were  now  permitted  to  revisit  the  earth,  they  would  greatly 
wonder  at  finding  their  names  enrolled  as  patrons  of  an  institution,  of 
which  they  had  never  heard.  And  there  can  be  no  question  of  the 
fact,  that  if  they  Avere  now  to  apply  for  admission  into  any  of  our 
lodges,  they  would  be  utterly  incapable  of  "working  their  way  in." 


238  OPINIONS    OF    WRITERS 

The  annual  masonic  festival  in  England,  is  held  "  on  the  anniver- 
sary of  the  feast  of  St.  John  the  Baptist,  or  of  St.  George,  or  on  such 
other  day  as  the  grand  master  may  appoint."  Their  reasons  for  select- 
ing these  days,  are  sufficiently  expressive  of  their  opinions.  The  feast 
of  St.  John  the  Baptist,  occurs  on  the  24th  June,  when,  in  that  climate, 
the  weather  is  not  too  warm  for  a  public  procession  ;  and  St.  George, 
whose  anniversary  is  held  April  23d,  is  the  patron  Saint  of  England. 
This,  to  me,  is  clear  evidence,  that  the  anniversary  of  St.  John  was  not 
selected,  because  they  deem  him  to  have  been  a  freemason. 

I  am,  however,  of  opinion,  that  we  act  wisely  in  taking  St.  John  the 
Evangelist,  for  the  patron  of  our  order.  He  is  worthy  of  imitation, 
both  in  his  principles  and  conduct.  But,  as  it  has  been  well  said  of  old 
Amicus  Plato,  Amicus  Socrates,  sed  magis  amica  Veritas;  so  I  may  truly 
«ay,  that  I  highly  venerate  the  masonic  institution,  under  the  fullest 
persuasion,  that  where  its  principles  are  acknowledged,  audits  laws  and 
precepts  obeyed,  it  comes  nearest  to  the  Christian  religion,  in  its  moral 
effects  and  influence,  than  any  institution  with  which  I  am  acquainted. 
At  the  same  time,  I  hold  truth  to  be  too  sacredly  connected  with  my 
office  and  character,  to  allow  me  to  approve  of  the  custom,  now  gene- 
rally adopted,  of  dedicating  our  lodges  "to  God  and  the  holy  St.  John," 
as  joint  patrons  of  the  society.  I  hold  it  to  be  irreverent,  to  unite  the 
name  of  any  created  being,  with  the  uncreated  Godhead.  The  name 
of  God  is  surely  sufficiently  honorable  and  powerful  as  the  patron  of 
our  institution,  without  the'additionof  any  other.  If  the  lodge  be  dedi- 
cated to  God,  let  it  be  dedicated  to  him  alone.  He  can  bless  all  our 
•*  work  begun,  continued,  and  ending"  in  Him,  without  the  assistance 
of  St.  John.  But,  if  it  be  necessary  to  have  St.  John,  let  us  take  him 
alone,  as  our  tutelary  head,  or  unite  with  him  any  of  the  old  worthies, 
usually  considered  as  masons. 


It  is  a  well  known  fact,  as,  before  observed,  that  the  early  Christians  very  judi- 
ciously adopted,  not  only  the  festival  days  of  the  pagans,  but  even  their  manner  of 
celebrating  them.  This  was  doubtless  done  with  the  view  of  rendering  the  change  in 
the  new  religion  less  perceptible,  and  consequently  less  shocking  to  the  prejudices 
of  those  who  adhered  to  the  ancient  instition.  Among  the  principal  festivals  of  the 
pagans  were  those  of  the  solstices  and  equinoxes. 

De  Pauw,  in  his  Philos.  Diss,  on  the  Egyptians  and  Chinese,  observes,  that  "  Besides 
the  Sabbath,  which  the  Egyptians  seem  to  have  observed  very  regularly,  they  had  a 
fixed  festival  at  each  new  moon ;  one  at  the  summer  and  one  at  the  winter  solstice,  as 
well  as  the  veanal  and  autumnal  equinoxes.  All  others  except  that  at  the  rising  of  Sinus 


ON    FREEMASONRY.  239 

were  changeable,  and  dependent  on  certain  combinations  known  to  the  priests  only 
who  transferred  them  arbitrarily,  whenever  they  occurred  on  the  neomenia,  the  equi- 
nox, or  the  solstice."— Vol.  2.  p.  159. 

"The  festival  of  the  25th  of  December,  (says  Higgins,  in  his  Celtic  Druids,  p.  165.) 
was  celebrated  by  the  Druids  in  Britain  and  Ireland,  with  great  Jires  lighted  on  the 
tops  of  the  hills.  This  festival  was  repeated  on  the  twelfth  day,  or  on  what  we  call 
the  Epiphany.  In  some  parts  the  fires  are  still  continued.  The  evergreens,  and  par- 
ticularly the  missletoe,  which  are  used  all  over  the  country,  and  even  in  London,  in 
this  festival,  betray  its  Druidical  origin. 

"  On  the  25th  of  December,  at  the  first  moment  of  the  day  throughout  all  the  ancient 
world,  the  birth  day  of  the  god  Sol  was  celebrated.  This  was  the  moment,  when, 
after  the  supposed  winter  solstice,  and  the  lowest  point  of  his  degradation  below  our 
hemisphere,  he  began  to  increase,  and  gradually  to  ascend.  At  this  moment,  in  all  the 
ancient  regions,  his  birth  day  was  kept ;  from  India  to  the  ultima  Thule,  these  ceremo- 
nies partook  of  the  same  character :  every  where  the  god  was  feigned  to  be  born,  and 
his  festival  was  celebrated  with  great  rejoicings." 

The  fires  on  the  hills  are  emblematical  of  the  power  and  ardor  of  the  sun,  when 
he  should  have  ascended  to  the  upper  regions,  which  he  was  then  approaching;  and 
the  evergreens  are  typical  of  the  effect  that  would  be  produced  in  the  vegetable  king- 
dom by  that  event. 

What  possible  allusion  can  the  display  of  evergreens  at  Christmas  have,  unless  that 
here  suggested  ?  The  custom  is  undoubtedly  borrowed  from  the  Druids,  and  is  contin- 
ued without  the  least  applicabihty  to  the  Christian  religion.  Masonic  lodges,  moreover, 
are  decorated  in  this  manner  on  the  27th  of  December,  which  is  corroborative  of  the 
opinion  here  advanced. 

The  Roman  and  Episcopal  churches  still  retain  an  astronomical  cast,  as  is  appa- 
rent both  in  Xheix  fixed  and  moveable  feasts.  "  The  principal  of  the  moveable  feasts  i^ 
Easter,  which  governs  the  rest.  Easter  was  an  idol  or  g-oddess  of  the  Saxons,  in 
honor  of  whom,  sacrifices  were  offered  about  the  time  of  the  year  which  is  now  obser- 
ved by  the  church  in  commemoration  of  our  Saviour's  resurrection.  It  is  kept  on  the 
first  Sunday  after  iliefidl  moon,  succeeding  the  vernal  equinox."     (Bailey. 

The  birth  days  of  the  two  St.  Johns,  it  appears,  are  fixed  by  the  framers  of  the 
church  ritual,  at  the  periods  of  the  solstices.  These  of  course  were  observed  as  festi- 
val days  by  the  Druidical  masons  ;  and  as  they  were  celebrated  openly  with  pompous 
processions,  etc.,  it  became  necessary  for  them  to  use  every  precaution  to  prevent  a 
discovery  of  the  real  cause  of  these  demonstrations  of  joy.  With  this  view  they  appro- 
priated the  names  of  the  feasts  or  festivals  that  had  been  assumed  for  them  by  the 
Catholic  Church.  But  while  they  ostensibly  honored  the  two  St.  Johns,  they  were 
mentally  paying  homage  to  their  favorite  divinity,  the  sun. 


Sig?is  and  Symbols, 

Illustrated  and  explained,  in  a  course  of  Lectures  on  Freemasonry.    By  George  Oliver 
Vicar  of  Clee,  etc.— Grimsby,  1826. 

Under  what  denomination  soever  our  Science  has  been  known  in  the 
world ;  under  what  form  soever  it  may   have  been  practised ;  it  has 


240  .  OPMONS    OF    WRITERS 

always  been  understood  to  have  a  distinct  reference  to  the  worship  of 
God,  and  the  moral  culture  of  man. 

The  characteristic  propensities  of  a  people,  the  state  of  their  progress 
irom  barbarism  to  civilization ;  their  intellectual  attainments,  the  charac- 
ter of  their  government,  or  their  intercourse  with  other  nations,  might 
and  did  create  some  distinction  in  the  ceremonial,  but  the  great  essen- 
tials, broadly  struck  out  by  the  Cabiric  priests,  did  never  vary. 

In  a  word,  the  mysteries  were  the  only  vehicles  of  religion  through- 
out the  whole  idolatrous  world ;  and  it  is  probable  that  the  very  name 
of  religion  might  have  been  obliterated  from  amongst  them,  but  for  the 
support  it  received  by  the  periodical  celebrations,  which  preserved  all 
the  forms  and  ceremonies,  rites  and  practices  of  divine  worship ;  and 
the  varieties  of  custom  in  this  particular,  constituted  the  sole  difference 
betwixt  the  masonry  (shall  I  so  call  it?)  of  different  nations.  Where- 
soever the  mysteries  were  introduced,  they  retained  their  primitive 
form,  adapted  to  the  customs  and  usages  of  the  national  religion:  and 
if  varied  in  some  unimportant  points,  it  was  to  commemorate  certain 
extraordinary  performances  of  the  tutelary  deities,  or  to  perpetuate  some 
remarkable  circumstance  attending  their  first  institution  in  a  particular 
country.  Hence  the  same,  or  similar  ceremonies,  which  were  applied 
to  Osiris  and  Isis  in  Egypt,  the  great  source  of  secret  and  mysterious 
rites,  (Lucian  de  Dea  Syr,)  were  celebrated  in  Greece,  in  honor  of 
Bacchus  and  Rhea ;  at  Eleusis,  they  were  applied  to  Ceres  and  Proser- 
pine ;  in  Tyre  and  Cyprus,  to  Adonis  and  Venus;  in  Persia, to  Mithras 
and  ]VIith^;a  ;  in  India,  to  Maha  Deva  and  Sita  ;  in  Britain,  to  Hu  and 
fCeridwenj]  in  Scandinavia,  to  Odin  and  Frea  ;  and  in  Mexico,  to  Tla- 
loc  and  t^  Great  Mother ;  for  these  appear  to  be  but  different  names 
for  the  same  deities,  and  most  probably  referred  to  Noah  and  the  Ark. 
They  were  all  originally  the  same  system. 

They  used  as  most  significant  emblems,  the  Theological  Ladder 
— the  triple  support  of  the  universal  lodge,  called  by  masons,  wisdom, 
strength,  and  beauty;  the  point  within  a  circle,  and  many  other 
legitimate  emblems  of  masonry ;  they  used  the  same  form  of  government 
— the  same  system  of  secrecy,  allegory,  and  symbolical  instruction ;  all 
tending  to  the  same  point,  the  practice  of  moral  virtue.  None  were 
admitted  without  previous  probation  and  initiation ;  the  candidates  were 
bound  by  solemn  oaths  ;  united  by  invisible  ties ;  taught  by  symbols ; 
distinguished  by  signs  and  tokens;  and,  impelled  by  a  conscientious 
adherence  to  the  rules  of  the  order,  they  professed  to  practice  the  most 
rigid  morality ;  justice  towards  men,  and  piety  to  the  gods. 


ON    FREEMASONRY.  241 

If  primitive  masonry  was  a  system  of  light,  the  initiated  heathen 
equally  paid  divine  honors  to  the  sun,  as  the  source  of  light,  by  cir- 
cumambulating in  the  course  of  that  luminary^  during  the  ceremony  of 
initiation. 

Did  the  initiated  refer  to  the  four  elements  ?  They  were  portrayed 
by  certain  prismatic  colors.  White  represented  the  air;  Blue  the 
water ;  Purple  the  earth  ;  and  Crimson  the  fire. 

The  Zodiac  was  considered  as  the  great  assembly  of  the  twelve  gods ; 
the  sun  being  supreme,  and  the  planets  his  attendants. 

The  emblems  which  masons  now  make  use  of  as  the  secret  reposito- 
ries of  their  treasures  of  morality,  were  adopted  by  the  ancients  in  very 
early  times,  as  signs  and  symbols;  and  were  even  substituted  for 
alphabetical  characters. 

The  triangle,  now  called  a  trowel,  was  an  emblem  of  very  extensive 
application,  and  was  much  revered  by  ancient  nations  as  containing  the 
greatest  and  most  abstruce  mysteries.  It  signified  egually  the  Deity^ 
Creation,  and  Fire. 

On  ike  name  of  the  Deity. 

The  great  name  of  the  Deity,  which  is  termed  by  Josephus,  incom- 
municable, is  said  to  be  preserved  in  the  system  of  freemasonry.  Cal- 
met  observes,  "  when  we  pronounce  Jehovah,  we  follow  the  crowd ;  for 
we  do  not  know  distinctly  the  manner  wherein  this  proper  and  incom- 
municable name  of  God  should  be  pronounced,  which  is  written  with 
lod,  Hi,  Vau,  Hi,  and  comes  from  the  verb  haiah,  he  has  been.  The 
ancients  have  expressed  it  differently.  Sanchoniathon  writes  Jevo ; 
Diodorus  the  Sicilian,  Macrobius,  St.  Clemens  Alexandrinus,  St. 
Jerom,  and  Origen,  pronounce  lao,"  etc. 

The  Tetragrammaton  was  preserved  and  transmitted  by  the 
Essenes.  It  was  always  communicated  in  a  whisper,  (R.  Tarphon, 
apud.  Ten.  Idol,  page  395,)  and  under  such  a  disguised  form^ 
that  while  its  component  parts  were  universally  known,  the  con- 
nected whole  was  an  incommunicable  mystery.  They  used,  in 
common  with  the  whole  Jewish  nation,  the  ancient  and  significant 
symbol  by  which  this   name  was  •  designated,   viz.   three  jods,  with 

the  point  kametz  placed  underneath  them,  thus,  (V}    to  express  the 

equality  of  the  three  persons  of  which  they  believe  the  godhead  to  be  com- 
posed.    This  holy  name  they  held  in  the  utmost  veneration.     Calmet, 

31 


242  OPINIONS    OF    WRITERS 

says,  they  believe  the  name  of  God  to  include  all  things.  "He  who 
pronounces  it,  say  they,  shakes  heaven  and  earth,  and  inspires  the  very 
angels  with  astonishment  and  terror.  There  is  a  sovereign  authority 
in  this  name ;  it  governs  the  world  by  its  power." 

The  letter  schin,  f^,  was  adopted  as  a  mysterious  emblem  to  desig- 
nate the  Tetragrammaton ;  and  hence  this  letter  was  supposed  to  com- 
prehend many  valuable  qualities.  It  was,  therefore,  deeply  engraven 
by  the  Jews  on  their  phylacteries,  both  before  and  behind,  to  induce  the 
protection  of  the  omnipresent   deity   it   represented.     Another  symbol 

was  an  equilateral  triangle  illuminated  with  a  single  jod.    ^\     This 

initial  letter  jod,  "  denotes  the  thought,  the  idea  of  God.  It  is  a  Ray  of 
Light,  say  the  enraptured  cabbalists,  which  darts  a  lustre  too  transcen- 
dent to  be  contemplated  by  mortal  eye ;  it  is  a  point  at  which  thought 
pauses,  and  imagination  itself  grows  giddy  and  confounded.  Man,  sajrs 
M.  Basnage,  citing  the  rablbies,  may  lawfully  roll  his  thoughts  from 
one  end  of  heaven  to  the  other  ;  but  they  cannot  approach  that  inacces- 
sible Light,  that  primitive  existence  contained  in  the  letter  Jod."  (Maur. 
Ind.  Ant.  vol.  iv.) 

The  chief  varieties  of  this  sacred  name  amongst  the  inhabitants  of 
different  nations,  were  Jah,  and  Bel  or  Baal,  and  On  or  Om.  The  first 
of  these,  as  we  have  just  seen,  had  many  fluctuations.  Jupiter,  Jove, 
Evohe,  etc.  were  but  corruptions  of  Jah  or  Jehovah.  lao,  was  pro- 
nounced by  the  oracle  of  Apollo,  to  be  the  first  and  greatest  of  the  dei- 
ties.    (Macrob.  Saturn.  1.  18.) 

The  compounds  of  the  second  name  Bel,  are  of  great  variety.  Belus, 
was  used  by  the  Chaldeans ;  and  the  deity  known  amongst  the  ancient 
Celtae,  by  the  name  of  Bel  or  Bel-enus,  which  title,  by  the  modern 
authors,  is  identified  with  Apollo. 

The  third  variation  was  On.  Under  this  appellation  the  deity  was 
worshipped  by  the  Egyptians ;  and  they  professed  to  believe  that  he 
was  eternal,  and  the  fountain  of  light  and  life;  but,  according  to  their 
gross  conceptions,  being  necessarily  visible,  the  sun  was  adored  as 
his  representative,  and  was,  most  probably  the  same  as  Osiris.  They 
knew  the  general  purport  of  the  name  and  little  more.  If  they  believed 
On  to  be  the  living  and  eternal  God,  they  allowed  the  same  attributes 
to  the  sun,  which  they  undoubtedly  worshipped  as  the  Lord  of  the 
creation.  Oannes  was  the  god  of  the  Chaldeans;  and  Dag-On  of  the 
Philistines,  both  of  which  are  derivations  of  the  same  name.     On,  w^as 


ON    FREEMASONRY.  243 

evidently  the  same  deity  as  the  Hebrew  Jehovah ;  and  was  introduced 
amongst  the  Greeks  by  Plato,  who  acknowledges  his  eternity  and 
incomprehensibility  in  these  remarkable  words;  "  Tell  me  of  the  god 
On  ;  which  is,  and  never  knew  beginning."  (In  Timoeo.  v.  iii.  p.  27.) 
And  the  same  name  was  used  by  the  early  Christians  for  the  true  God ; 
for  St.  John  in  the  Apocalypse,  (Chap.  1.  v.  4.)  has  this  expression — 
On,  kai  6  en,  kai  6  erchomenos,  which  is  translated  in  our  authorized 
version  of  the  Scriptures,  by,  •'  Him,  which  is,  and  which  was,  and 
which  is  to  come." 

The  same  word  with  a  small  variation,  was  one  of  the  names  of  the 
supreme  deity  in  India ;  and  a  devout  meditation  on  it  was  considered 
capable  of  conveying  the  highest  degree  of  perfection.*  In  the  ordi- 
nances of  Menu,  we  are  informed  how  this  sacred  word  was  produced. 
"  Brahma  milked  out,  as  it  were,  from  the  three  Vedas,  the  letter  A,  the 
letter  U,  and  the  letter  M ;  which  form,  by  their  coalition,  the  triliteral 
monosyllable,  together  with  three  mysterious  words,  bhur,  bhuvah* 
swer;  or,  earth,  sky,  heaven."  (S.  W.  Jones.  Works,  vol.  iii.  p.  93.) 
These  three  letters,  which  are  pronounced  cm,  refer  to  the  deity  in  his 
triple  capacity  of  creator,  preserver,  and  destroyer.  The  method 
of  using  it  is  given  in  the  same  code.  "Three  suppressions  of 
breath,  made  according  to  the  divine  rule,  accompanied  with  the 
triverbal  phrase,  bhurbhuvahswah  and  the  triliteral  syllable  om,  may 
be  considered  as  the  highest  devotion  of  a  Brahmin."  (Ibid.  p.  235.) 
Mr.  Colebrooke  informs  us  that  "  a  Brahmana,  beginning  and  ending  a 
lecture  of  the  Veda,  or  the  recital  of  any  holy  strain,  must  always  pro- 
nounce to  himself  the  syllable  Om  ;  for  unless  the  syllable  Om  precede, 
his  learning  will  slip  away  from  him ;  and  unless  it  follow,  nothing 
will  be  retained ;  or  that  syllable  being  prefixed  to  the  several  names 
of  worlds,  denotes  that  the  seven  worlds  are  manifestations  of  the  power, 
signified  by  that  syllable."     (Asiat.  Res.  vol.  v.  p.  352.) 


On  the  Cherubim, 

Every  branch  of  science  is  progressive.     In  the  first  degree  of 
masonry,  we  are  taught  the  several  duties  of  our  station,  whether  to 


*  Seneca,  the  stoic,  says,  "It  is  of  little  consequence  by  what  name  you  call  the  first 
nature^  and  the  divine  reason  that  presides  over  the  universe,  and  fills  all  the  parts  of  it 
— he  \9  still  the  same  God.  You  may  give  him  as  many  names  as  you  please,  provided 
you  allow  but  one  sole  principle^  every  where  present."— JS^rftV. 


244  OPINIONS    OF    WRITERS 

God,  our  neighbor,  or  ourselves; — the  practice  of  the  Theological  and 
Cardinal  Virtues,  and  every  moral  and  social  work.  In  the  second 
degree,  we  are  admitted  to  a  participation  in  the  mysteries  of  human 
science ;  and  catch  a  glimpse  of  celestial  glory.  But  in  the  third 
degree,  the  vail  is  removed ;  we  are  admitted  to  the  holy  of  holies — 
we  view  the  Cherubim  in  all  their  brightness  ;  and  are  blessed  with  ^ 
foretaste  of  heaven,  through  the  resurrection  of  the  dead.  And  if  we 
pass  on  to  the  royal  arch,  we  receive  a  wonderful  accession  of  know- 
ledge, and  find  every  thing  made  perfect ;  for  this  is  the  ne  plus  ultra  of 
masonry,  and  can  never  be  exceeded  by  any  human  institution. 

In  the  peculiar  lectures  of  masonry,  much  importance  is  attached  to 
that  great  symbol  of  the  glory  of  God,  the  cherubim.  It  is  a  subject 
which  adds  much  to  the  dignity  and  authority  of  our  science ;  inas- 
much as  its  illustration  has  formed  an  important  part  of  speculative 
masonry. 

When  "the  true  invisible  God  was  renounced  and  forgotten,  this 
symbol  furnished  mankind  with  plausible  substitutes;  and  hence  in 
almost  all  the  heathen  nations  of  which  we  have  any  account,  the 
Supreme  Being  was  worshipped  under  the  corporeal  form  of  one  or 
other  of  its  component  parts ;  and  they  all  ultimately  referred  to  the 
sun ;  and  hence  this  luminary,  in  connection  with  the  cherubic  animals, 
became  a  chief  object  of  Gentile  worship  throughout  the  world. 

The  ox  was  adored  in  Egypt,  India  and  Britain ;  China  and  Japan ; 
Persia,  Greece,  and  Peru.  (Plin.  Nat.  Hist.  1.  viii.  c.  46. — Asiat. 
Research,  vol.  i.  p.  250.— Dav.  Druids,  p.  128.) 

As  the  ox  was  the  predominating  figure  in  the  cherubim,  so  it  was 
the  most  universal  symbol  of  idolatry,  and  was  frequently  worshipped 
in  a  compound  form. 

He  was  an  emblem  of  the  great  father  or  Noah ;  and  the  ark  was 
called  Ken-Tauros,  the  stimulator  of  the  bull.  (Bryant.  Anal.  vol.  ii.  p. 
440.)  He  was  worshipped  with  splendid  rites,  at  that  season  of  the 
year  particularly  when  the  sun  was  in  Taurus. 

In  India,  the  bull  was  held  in  high  veneration  ;  and  honored  with 
diurnal  worship  in  conjunction  with  the  Linga  or  Phallus,  as  an  emblem 
of  justice  and  prolific  power. 

A  bull  was  also  the  well  known  symbol  of  Bacchus  ;  who  is  styled 
in  the  Orphic  hymne,  "  the  deity  with  two  horns,  having  the  head  of  a 
bull."     (Hymn  29.) 

The  Lion  was  adored  in  the  east  and  the  west,  by  the  Egyptians  and 
the  Mexicans  as  a  most  powerful  divinity.     (Diod.  Sic.  Bibl.  1.  i.  c.  6.) 


« 


ON    FREEMASONRY.  245 

The  same  animal  was  emblematical  of  the  sun  in  Tartary  and  Per- 
sia; (Hesych.)  and  hence,  on  the  national  banner  of  Persia,  a  lion  was 
emblazoned  with  the  sun  rising  from  his  back.  "  The  sovereigns  of 
Persia  have  for  many  centuries  preserved  as  the  peculiar  arms  of  their 
country,  the  sign  or  figure  of  Sol  in  the  constellation  Leo ;  and  this 
device,  which  exhibits  a  lion  couchant  and  the  sun  rising  at  his  back, 
has  not  only  been  sculptured  upon  their  palaces,  and  embroidered  upon 
their  banners,  but  has  been  converted  into  an  order,  which  in  the  form  of 
gold  and  silver  medals,  has  been  given  to  those  who  have  distin- 
guished themselves  against  the  enemies  of  their  country."  (Sir  John 
Malcom's  Hist,  of  Pers.  c,  xxv.) 

The  Egyptian  astronomers  taught  that  the  creation  of  the  world 
took  place  at  the  precise  period  of  time  when  the  sun  rose  in  Leo ; 
which  sign  was  hence  esteemed  the  peculiar  habitation  of  the  sun ; 
and  this  belief  gave  an  additional  stimulus  to  the  veneration  w^hich  man- 
kind entertained  for  the  king  of  animals.  Mr.  Bryant  observes  in 
reference  to  this  superstition ;  "  as  the  chief  increase  of  the  Nile  was 
when  the  sun  was  passing  through  Leo,  the  Egyptians  made  the  lion  a 
type  of  an  innundation.  All  effusions  of  water  were  specified  by  this 
characteristic.  And  from  hence  has  been  the  custom  of  making  the 
water  which  proceeds  from  cisterns  and  reservoirs,  as  well  as  spouts 
from  the  roofs  of  buildings,  come  through  the  mouth  of  a  lion." 
(Bryant's  Plagues  of  Egypt,  p.  86.  note.) 

The  eagle  was  sacred  to  the  sun  in  many  countries,  particularly  in 
some  parts  of  Egypt,  Greece  and  Persia.  In  our  Scriptures  the  king 
of  Babylon  is  termed  an  Eagle.  It  was  reputed  to  have  fed  Jupiter 
with  nectar  in  the  Cretan  cave,  and  was  certainly  an  emblem  of  his 
dominion.  With  the  British  Druids  it  formed  a  symbol  of  their 
supreme  god ;  it  was  embroidered  on  the  consecrated  standard  of  the 
Mexican  princes  ;  and  the  common  ensign  of  the  Roman  legions  was 
a  golden  eagle.  Indeed  the  peculiar  property  which  this  noble  bird 
possesses  of  beholding  with  impunity  the  undiminished  vigor  of  the 
sun's  meridian  rays,  would  naturally  procure  for  it  an  emblematical 
distinction. 

The  man,  or  idol  in  human  shape,  was  worshipped  all  over  the 
world ;  for  which  custom  this  reason  has  been  assigned  by  Porphiry, 
when  charged  with  worshipping  God  under  the  figure  of  a  man.  He 
allowed  the  deity  to  be  invisible,  but  thought  him  well  represented  in 
that  form :  not  because  he  is  like  him  in  external  shape,  but  because  that 
which  is  divine  is  rational.  (Porph.  In  Euseb.  depraep.  evan.  1  iii.  c.  7.) 


246  OPINIONS    OF    WRITERS 

The  Cherubim,  according  to  the  author,  consist  of  the  figures  of  a  man,  an  ox,  a 
lion,  and  an  eagle:  which  combmation  he  represents  as  awfully  sacred  and  sublime, 
evidently  with  the  view  of  heightning  the  mystical  importance  of  royal  arch  masonry, 
whose  armorial  ensigns  it  composes. 

Dr.  Rees  remarks,  that  "Cherub,  or  Cherubim,  in  Hebrew,  is  sometimes  taken  for  a 
cralf  or  on  ox.  In  Syriac  and  Caldee,  the  word  cherub  signifies  to  till  or  plough,  which 
is  the  work  of  oxen.  According  to  Groiius,  the  Cherubim  were  figures  resembling  ^ 
calf.  Bochart  and  Spencer  think  they  were  similar  to  an  ox.  The  figure  of  the  Cheru- 
bim was  not  always  uniform,  since  they  are  differently  described  in  the  shapes  of  men, 
eagles,  oxen,  lions,  and  a  composition  of  all  these  figures  put  together.*  After  all  the 
suggestions  and  conjectures  of  learned  persons,  it  still  remains  to  be  determined,  what 
these  emblematic  figures  were  intended  to  represent." 

They  form  a  part  of  the  machinery  of  pagan  worship,  each  figure  being  symbohcal 
of  the  great  object  of  adoration,  the  sun.  This  Mr.  Oliver  himself  has  fully  shown. 

Thus  it  appears  that  the  masonic  Cherubim,  composing  its  arms,  consists  of 
representations  of  tho  sun  under  various  figures,  conformible  to  the  fanciful  super- 
stitious  notions  of  ancient  nations. 

"Ye  inhabitants  of  India  !  in  vain  you  cover  yourselves  with  the  vail  of  mys- 
tery :  the  hawk  of  your  god  Vichenon  is  but  one  of  the  thousand  emblems  of  the 
sun  in  Egypt ;  and  your  incarnations  of  a  god  in  the  fish,  the  boar,  the  lion,  the 
tortoise,  and  all  his  monstrous  adventures,  are  only  the  metamorphoses  of  the  suli, 
who,  passing  through  the  signs  of  the  twelve  animals,  was  supposed  to  assume  their 
figures,  and  perform  their  astronomical  functions.  People  of  Japan  I  your  bull 
which  breaks  the  mundane  egg,  is  only  the  bull  of  the  zodiac,  which  in  former 
times  opened  the  seasons,  the  age  of  creation,  the  vernal  equinox.  It  is  the  same 
bull  Apis  which  Egypt  adored,  and  which  your  ancestors,  O  Jewish  rabbins  !  wor- 
shipped in  the  golden  calf.  This  is  still  your  bull,  followers  of  Zoroaster  !  which 
sacrificed  in  the  symbolical  mysteries  of  Mythra,  poured  out  his  blood  which  fer- 
talized  the  earth."     Ruins,  p   138. 

The  supporters  of  the  armorial  ensigns  of  royal  arch  masonry,  according  to 
Cross's  chart,  are  two  figures  representing  the  god  Pan  ;  who  may  be  considered 
as  one  of  the  most  ancient  divinities  of  paganism. 

*'  Orpheus  says  that  Pan  signifies  universal  nature,  proceeding  from  the  divine 
mind,  of  which  the  heaven,  earth,  sea,  and  the  eternal  fire,  are  so  many  members- 
He  was  generally  represented  with  the  body  and  head  of  a  man,  and  the  lower 
parts  were  those  of  a  goat."     Bailey. 


On  the  mysterious  darkness  of  the  Third  Degree. 

In  thea  ncient  mysteries,  the  Epoptes,  or  perfectly  initiated  aspirants, 
were  reputed  to  have  attained  a   state  of  pure  and  ineffable  Light,  and 

♦  At  the  end  of  the  planetary  system,  the  my^stagogue  presents  us  with  a  picture  of 
the  fixed  heavens,  and  the  four  celestial  figures  which  were  placed  at  the  four  corners  of 
heaven,  according  to  the  astrological  scheme. 

These  four  figiues  were  the  lion,  the  bull,  the  man  (Aquarius,)  and  the  eagle,  which 
divide  the  ^hole  zodiac  into  four  parts  of  three  signs  each,  in  the  points  of  the  sphere 
called  fixed  and  solid.  The  stars  which  correspond  to  these  are  called  the  four  royal 
fffar*.— (Dupuis,  p.  hb7')—Edit. 


ON    FREEMASONRY.  247 

pronounced  safe  under  the  protection  of  the  celestial  gods;  (Diod.  Sic. 
Bibl,  1.  V.  c.  3.)  while  the  unhappy  multitude  who  had  not  undergone 
the  purifying  ceremonies,  were  declared  reprobate  ;  said  to  wander  in 
all  the  obscurity  of  darkness,  to  be  deprived  of  the  divine  favor,  and 
doomed  to  a  perpetual  residence  in  the  infernal  regions,  amidst  a 
cheerless  and  overwhelming  contamination.  (Plato  Phsedone. — Arist. 
Eleusinia  et  apud  Stobaeum.  Serm.  189,  etc.     Schol.  Arist.  Ranis.) 

During  the  Persian  initiations,  this  doctrine  was  enforced  ex  cathe- 
dra, (from  the  desk  or  pulpit.)  The  Archimagus  informed  the  candi- 
date at  the  moment  of  illumination,  that  the  divine  lights  were  displayed 
before  him;  (Psell.  in  Schol.  in  Orac.  Zoroast.)  and  after  explaining 
the  nature  and  purport  of  the  mysteries  in  general,  he  taught  that  the 
universe  was  governed  by  a  good  and  evil  power  who  were  perpetually 
engaged  in  contest  with  each  other,  and  as  each  in  turn  prevailed,  the 
world  was  characterized  by  a  corresponding  succession  of  happiness 
and  misery ;  that  uninitiated  and  immoral  men  were  votaries  of  the 
evil  power,  and  the  virtuous  initiated  of  the  good  ;  and  that  at  the  end 
of  the  world,  each,  with  his  followers  will  go  into  a  separate  abode;  the 
latter  with  Yazdan  shall  ascend  by  means  of  a  ladder  io  a  state  of  eter- 
nal light,  where  exists  unalloyed  happiness  and  the  purest  pleasures ; 
the  former  wiih  Ahri7nan,  shall  be  plunged  into  an  abode  oi  darkness, 
where  they  shall  suffer  an  eternity  of  disquietude  and  misery,  in  a  deso- 
late place  of  punishment  situated  on  the  shore  of  a  stinking  river,  the 
waters  of  which  are  black  as  pitch  and  cold  as  ice.  Here  the  souls  of 
the  uninitiated  eternally  float.  Dark  columns  of  smoke  ascend  from 
this  stream,  the  inside  of  which  is  full  of  serpents,  scorpions,  and  veno' 
mous  reptiles.     (Hyde,  de  relig.  vet.  Pers.  p.  399.) 

The  multitude,  being  thus  amused  with  fables,  and  terrified  with 
denunciations,  were  effectually  involved  in  uncertainty,  and  directed  to 
paths  where  error  only  could  be  found;  for  every  proceeding  was 
mysterious,  and  every  mythological  doctrine  shrouded  under  a  corres- 
ponding symbol.  These  allegorical  fables  becoming  popular,  the  simple 
rites  of  primitive  worship  soon  assumed  a  new  and  more  imposing  form, 
and  religion  was  at  length  envelloped  in  a  veil  so  thick  and  impervious 
as  to  render  the  interpretation  of  their  symbolical  imagery  extremely 
difficult  and  uncertain.  The  slender  thread  of  truth  being  intimately 
blended  and  confused  with  an  incongruous  mass  of  error,  the  elucida- 
tion was  a  task  so  complicated  and  forbidding,  that  few  had  the  courage 
to  undertake  it ;  and  men  were  father  inclined  to  bow  implicitly  to  popu- 
lar tradition,  than  be  at  the  pains  to  reconcile  truth  with  itself,  and 


248  OPINIONS    OF    WRITERS 

separate,  with  a  nice  and  delicate  hand,  the  particles  of  genuine  know- 
ledge from  the  cumbrous  web  of  allegory  and  superstition,  in  which 
they  were  interwoven. 

It  is  an  extraordinary  fact,  that  there  is  scarcely  a  single  ceremony 
in  freemasonry,  but  we  find  its  corresponding  rite  in  one  or  other  of 
the  idolatrous  mysteries ;  and  the  coincidence  can  only  be  accounted 
for  by  supposing  that  these  mysteries  were  derived  from  masonry.  Yet 
however  they  might  assimilate  in  ceremonial  observances,  an  essential 
difference  existed  in  the  fundamental  principles  of  the  respective  insti- 
tutions.* 

In  all  the  ancient  mysteries,  before  an  aspirant  could  claim  to  par- 
ticipate in  the  higher  secrets  of  the  institution,  he  was  placed  within 
the  Pastos,  or  Bed,  or  Coffin ;  or  in  other  words,  was  subjected  to  a  soli- 
tary confinement  for  a  prescribed  period  of  time,  that  he  might  reflect 
seriously,  in  seclusion  and  darkness,  on  what  he  was  about  to  under- 
take ;  and  be  reduced  to  a  proper  state  of  mind  for  the  reception  of  great 
and  important  truths,  by  a  course  of  fasting  and  mortification.  This 
was  the  symbolical  death  of  the  mysteries,  and  his  deliverance  from 
confinement  was  the  act  of  regeneration,  or  being  born  again  ;  or,  as  it 
was  also  termed,  being  raised  from  the  dead.  "  Clement  of  Alexan- 
dria tells  us,  that  in  the  formulary  used  by  one  who  had  been  initiated, 
he  was  taught  to  say,  I  have  descended  into  the  bed  chamber.  The 
ceremony  here  alluded  to  was  doubtless  the  same  as  the  descent, 
into  Hades  ;  and  I  am  inclined  to  think,  that  when  the  aspirant  entered 
into  the  mystic  cell,  he  was  directed  to  lay  himself  down  upon  the  bed, 
which  shadowed  out  the  tomb  01  coffin  of  the  Great  Father.     This  pro- 

♦The  author,  in  the  commencement  of  his  work,  says:—"  One  important  question 
which  appears  to  have  been  almost  wholly  neglected,  by  masonic  writers,  is,  whether 
freemasonry  be  a  servile  imitation  of  certain  ceremonies  m  the  ancient  idolatrous  mys- 
teries, as  is  asserted  by  some  writers ;  or  whether  it  be  the  great  original  from  winch 
the  mysteries  themselves  were  derived.  On  this  inquiry,  I  have  bestowed  much  deliberate 
conssideration ;  for  I  found  it  impossible  to  be  satisfied  with  practising  a  science  derived 
from  the  polluted  dregs  of  idolatry."  And,  he  comes  to  the  conclusion,  that  freema- 
sonry is,  "in  reality,  the  original  institution  from  which  all  the  mysteries  were  derived." 
And  adds,  **We  have  ample  testimony  to  estabhsh  the  fact,  that  the  mysteries  of  all 
nations  were  originally  the  same,  and  diversified  only  by  the  accidental  circumstances 
of  local  situation  and  political  economy." 

That  an  essential  difference  exists  between  the  ancient  mysteries  and  freemasonry, 
wants  evidence.  The  whole  of  bishop  Warburton's  dissertation  on  the  subject  of  the 
former,  goes  to  disprove  the  assertion.  However  erroneous  both  may  be  in  a  theologi- 
cal point  of  view,  they  agree  in  moral  principles,  and  are  unexceptionable.  And  that 
any  institution  called  freemasonry,  or  having  a  relation  thereto,  existed  anterior  to  that 
which  is  termed  the  mysteries,  is  a  gratuitous  assumption,  without  a  shadow  of  proof. 
The  mysteries,  under  the  name  of  freemasonry,  were  first  introduced  in  the  eleventh 
century  of  the  Christian  era. 

The  Reverend  author,  it  is  evident,  instead  of  having  any  qualms  of  conscience  on 
the  subject,  was  endeavoring  to  satisfy  the  scruples  which  might  arise  in  the  minds  of 
some  of  his  less  liberal  parishioners. 


ON    FREEMASONRY.  249 

cess  was  equivalent  to  his  ^ntering^  into  the  infernal  shipj„  and  while 
stretched  upon  the  holy  couch,  in  imitation  of  his  figurative  deceased 
proLotyye,  he  was  said  to  be  wrapped  in  the  deep  sleep  of  death.  His 
resurrection  from  the  bed  was  his  restoration  tolife^  or  his  regenera- 
tion into  a  new  world  ;  and  it  was  virtually  the  same  as  his  return  froni_ 
IJades,  or  his  emerging  from  the  gloomy  cavern,  or  his  liberation  from 
the  womb  of  the  ship-goddess.*     (Fab.  Pag.  Idol.  b.  v.  c.  7.) 

The  candidate  was  made  to  undergo  these  changes  in  scenic  repre- 
sentation ;  and  was  placed  under  the  Pastos  in  perfect  darkness,  gene- 
rally for  the  space  of  three  days  and  ninhts.  The  time  of  this  solitary 
confinement  however  varied  in  difl'erent  nations.  In  Britain  nine  days 
and  nights  was  the  specified  period  ;  (W.  Arch.  Tri.  50  apud  Dav. 
Druids,  p.  404.)  in  Greece,  three  times  nine  days  ;  (Porph.  vit.  Pyth.) 
while  in  Persia  it  extended  to  fifty  days  and  nights  of  darkness,  want 
of  rest,  and  fasting!  (Porph.  de  abstin.  c.  vi.  s.  18.)  To  explain  the 
nature  of  these  places  of  penance  and  mortification,  I  need  not  carry 
you  to  distant  shores  ;  the  remains  in  our  own  country  are  both  numer- 
ous and  open  to  public  inspection;  for  I  have  no  doubt  but  the  British 
Cromlech  was  the  identical  vehicle  of  preparation  for  the  Druidical 
mysteries. 

A  celebrated  piece  of  antiquity  was  recently  standing  near  Maid- 
stone, called  Kit's  Cotti  House.  This  was  a  dark  chamber  of  proba- 
fi  tion ;  for  Kit  is  no  other  than  Ked,  or  Ceridwen,  the  British  Ceres ; 
and  Cotti  or  Cetti  meant  an  Ark  or  Chest ;  hence  the  compound  word 
referred  to  the  Ark  of  the  diluvian  god  Noah,  whose  mysterious  rites 
were  celebrated  in  Britain :  and  Ceridwen  v/as  either  the  consort  of 
Noah,  or  the  Ark  itself;  symbolically  the  great  mother  of  mankind. 


*  This  is  exactly  imitated  in  the  third  degree  of  masonry ;  where  the  candidate  person- 
ates his Jigurati'ce  deceased  prototype,  Hiram.  Of  this  Mr.  Oliver  is  fully  aware,  yet 
with  all  this  pitiful  mummery  before  him,  he,  as  we  have  seen  above,  says : 

"In  the  third  degree,  the  veil  is  removed;  we  are  admitted  to  the  holy  of  holies  ;  we 
view  the  cherubim^  [the  ox,  the  lion,  etc.]  in  all  their  brightness;  and  are' blessed  with 
aforetaste  of  heaven,  through  the  resurrection  of  the  dead.'' 

Voltaire,'  in  speaking  of  Vhe  Eleusinian  mysteries,  says,  "  This  pure  religion  consisted 
in  the  acknowledgment  of  one  Supreme  God,  of  his  providence,  and  of  his  justice. 
That  which  disfigured  these  mysteries  was,  if  wc  can  believe  Tertullien,  the  ceremony 
oi  regeneration'.  It  was  necessary  that  the  initiated  should  appear  to  be  resuscitated ; 
it  was  the  symbol  of  the  new  life  he  was  about  to  embrace.  The  hierophant  raised  over 
hini  the  sacred  knife  :  they  feign  to  strike  him,  and  he  also  feigns  to  fall  dead;  after 
which  he  appears  to  be  resuscitated.  There  is  still  among  the  freemasons^  a  remnant 
of  this  ancient  ceremony."— (Oeuvres,  tome  16,  p.  166.) 

The 'whole  of  this  nonsense  gro\^s  out  of  the  fabled  death  of  the  sun.  "It  is  he, 
[the  sun]  that,  under  the  name  of  Osiris,  persecuted  by  Typhon  and  by  the  tyrants  of 
the  air,  was  put  to  death,  shut  up  in  a  dark  tomb,  emblem  of  the  hemisphere  of  winter  ; 
and  afterwards,  ascending  from  the  inferior  zone  towards  the  zenith  of  heaven,  arose 
again  from  the  dead,  triumphant  over  the  giants  and  the  angela  of  destruction."— 
(Ruins,  p.  139.) 

32 


S50  OPINIONS   OF    WRITERS 

The  Phallus  was  the  gross  Symbol  under  which  Noah,  or  the 
great  father  of  the  mysteries  was  worshipped;  and  it  was  usually 
represented  by  a  pyramidal  stone. 

Coincidences  like  these  are  too  striking  to  be  overlooked ;  particu- 
larly when  we  consider  that  the  initiations  formed  a  most  important  and 
essential  part  of  religious  worship  ;  and  no  person  could  hold  any  dig- 
nified appointment  as  a  priest,  or  legislator,  without  passing  through 
these  forms,  which  included,  as  an  indispensable  preliminary  rite,  the 
solitary  confinement  of  the  darkened  Pastos. 

On  the  three  j>illars,  wisdom,  strength,  and  beauty. 

la  the  British  and  other  mysteries,  these  three  Pillars  represented 
the  great  emblematical  Triad  of  Deity,  as  with  us  they  refer  to  the 
three  principal  officers  of  the  lodge.  We  shall  find  however  that  the 
symbolical  meaning  was  the  same  in  both.  It  is  a  fact,  that  in  Britain, 
the  Adytum  or  lodge  was  actually  supported  by  three  stones  or  pillars, 
which  were  supposed  to  convey  a  regenerating  purity  to  the  aspirant, 
after  having  endured  the  ceremony  of  initiation  in  all  its  accustomed 
formalities.  The  delivery  from  between  them  was  termed  a  new  birth. 
(Hanes  Taliesin,  c.  iii. — Dav.  Druids,  p.  230.)  The  corresponding 
pillars  of  the  Hindu  mythology  were  also  known  by  the  names  of  wis- 
dom, strength,  and  beauty,  and  placed  in  the  east,  west,  and  south, 
crowned  Avith  three  human  heads.  They  jointly  referred  to  the  crea- 
tor, who  was  said  to  have  planned  the  great  work  by  his  infinite  wis- 
dom ;  executed  it  by  his  strength  ;  and  to  have  adorned  it  with  all  its 
beauty  and  usefulness  for  the  benefit  of  man.  These  united  powers 
were  not  overlooked  in  the  mysteries,  for  we  find  them  represented  in 
the  solemn  .ceremony  of  initiation,  by  the  three  presiding  Brahmins  or 
Hierophants.  The  chief  Brahmin  sat  in  the  east,  high  exalted  on  a 
brilliant  throne,  clad  in  a  flowing  robe  of  azure,  thickly  sparkled  with 
golden  stars,  and  bearing  in  his  hand  a  magical  rod  ;  thus  symbolizing 
Brahma,  the  creator  of  the  world.  His  two  compeers,  clad  in  robes  of 
equal  magnificence,  occupied  corresponding  situations  of  distinction. 
The  representative  of  Vishnu,  the  setting  sun,  was  placed  on  an  exalted 
throne  in  the  west ;  and  he  who  personated  Siva,  the  meridian  sun> 
occupied  a  splendid  throne  in  the  south.  The  masonic  lodge,  bounded 
only  by  the  extreme  points  of  the  compass,  the  highest  heavens  and  the 
lowest  depths  of  the  central  abyss,  is  said  to  be  sppported  by  three  pil- 
lars, »,wisdom,  strength,  and  beautyy    In  like  manner  the  Persians,  who 


ON   PREEMASONKY.  251 

termed  their  emblematical  Mithratic  cave  or  lodge,  the  Empyrean, 
ffcigned  it  to  be  supported  by  three  intelligences,  Ormisda,  Mithra,  and 
Mithras,  who  were  usually  denominated,  from  certain  characteristics 
which  they  were  suppored  individually  to  possess,  eternity,  fecundity, 
and  authority.  (Vid.  Ramsay's  travels  of  Cyrus  and  dissertation 
thereto  annexed.)  Similar  to  this  were  the  forms  of  the  Egyptian 
Deity,  designated  by  the  attributes  of  wisdom,  power,  and  goodness  • 
(Plut.  de  Isid.  and  Osir.  p.  373.)  And  the  sovereign  good,  intellect, 
and  energy  of  the  Platonists,  which  were  also  regarded  as  the  respec- 
tive properties  of  the  divine  Triad.     (Plat,  in  Timaeo.) 

It  is  remarkable  that  every  mysterious  system  practised  on  the  habit- 
able globe,  contained  this  Triad  of  deity.  The  oracle  in  Damascius 
asserts  that  *'  throughout  the  world  a  Triad  shines  forth,  which  resolves 
itself  into  a  Monad;"  and  the  uniform  symbol  of  this  three-fold  Deity, 
was,  an  equilateral  triangle ;  the  precise  form  occupied  by  our  pillars 
of  wisdom,  strength,  and  beauty.  In  the  mysteries  of  India,  Brahma — 
Vishnu — Siva,  were  considered  as  a  tri-une  god,  distinguished  by  the 
significant  appellation  of  Tri-murti.*  Brahma  was  said  to  be  the  crea- 
tor, Vishnu  the  preserver,  and  Siva,  the  judge  or  destroyer.  In  the 
east,  as  the  pillar  of  wisdom,  this  deity  was  called  Brahma ;  in  the 
west,  as  the  pillar  of  strength,  Vishnu ;  and  in  the  south  as  the  pillar 
of  beauty,  Siva:  and  hence,  in  the  Indian  initiations,  as  we  have  just 
observed,  the  representative  of  Brahma  was  seated  in  the  east ;  that  of 
Vishnu  in  the  west;  and  that  of  Siva  in  the  south.  A  very  remark- 
able coincidence  in  the  practice  of  ancient  masonry. 

On  the  point  within  a  Circle. 

The  tribes  contiguous  to  Judea,  placed  a  jod  (,)  in  the  center  of  a 
circle,  as  a  symbol  of  the  Deity  surrounded  by  eternity,  of  which  he 
was  said  to  be  the  inscrutable  author,  the  ornament  and  support.  The 
Samothracians  had  a  great  veneration  for  the  circle,  which  they  con- 
sidered as  consecrated  by  the  universal  presence  of  the  deity;  and 
hence  rings  are  distributed  to  the  initiated,!  as  amulets  possessed  of  the 
power  of  averting  danger.  (Plin.  Nat.  Hist.  1.  xxxiii.  c.  i.)  The 
Chinese  used  a  symbol  which  bore  a  great  resemblance  to  that  which 

♦  " The  word  murti  or  form,  is  exactly  synonymous  with  eidolon;  and  in  a  secon- 
dary sense  means  an  image ;  but  in  its  primary  acceptation,  it  denotes  any  shape  or 
appearance  assumed  by  a  celestial  being."    Wilford  in  Asiat.  Res.  vol.  iii.  p.  359. 

t  Rings  are  also  presented  to  the  initiated  into  the  masonic  degree  of  Noachidse. 
Edit. 


252  OPINIONS    OF    WRITERS 

is  the  subject  of  this  lecture.  The  circle  was  bounded  north  and  south 
by  two  serpents,  equivalent  to  the  two  perpendicular  parallel  lines  of 
the  masonic  symbol ;  and  was  emblematical  of  the  universe,  protected 
and  supported  equally  by  the  power  and  wisdom  of  the  creator.  The 
Hindus  believed  that  the  Supreme  Being  was  correctly  represented  by 
a  perfect  sphere,  without  beginning  and  without  end.  (Holwel.  Hist. 
Events.)  The  first  settlers  in  Egypt  transmitted  to  their  posterity 
an  exact  copy  of  our  point  within  a  circle,  expressed  in  emblematical 
language.  The  widely  extended  universe  was  represented  as  a  circle 
of  boundless  light,  in  the  9enter  of  which  the  deity  was  said  to  dwell  J 
or  in  other  words,  the  circle  was  symbolical  of  his  eternity. 

The  point  within  the  circle,  afterwards  became  an  universal  emblem 
to  denote  the  temple  of  the  deity,  and  was  referred  to  the  planetary  cir- 
cle, in  the  center  of  which  was  fixed  the  sun,  as  the  universal  god  and 
father  of  nature  ;  for  the  whole  circle  of  heaven  was  called  God ; 
(Cicero,  de  nat.  deor.  1.)  Pythagoras  esteemed  them  the  central  fire,  the 
supernal  mansion  of  Jove;  (Stob.  Phys. — Aristot.  de  Ca3lo.  1.  ii.)  and 
he  called  it  Mesouraneo,  because  the  most  excellent  body  ought  to  have 
the  most  excellent  place:  i.  e.  the  center.  (Plut.  Simplic)  And 
Servius  tells  us  it  was  believed  that  the  center  of  a  temple  Avas  the  pecu- 
liar residence  of  the  deity  :  the  exterior  decorations  being  merely  orna- 
mental. (Serv.  Georg.  3.)  Hence  the  astronomical  character  used  to 
denote  or  represent  the  sun,  is  a  point  within  a  circle ;  because  that  fig- 
ure is  the  symbol  of  perfection.  The  most  perfect  metal  gold,  is  also 
designated  in  chymistry  by  the  same  character. 

With  this  reference,  the  point  within  a  circle  was  an  emblem  of 
great  importance  amongst  the  British  Druids.  Their  temples  were  cir- 
cular ;  many  of  them  with  a  single  stone  erected  in  the  center ;  their 
solemn  processions  were  all  arranged  in  the  same  form ;  their  weapons 
of  war,  the  circular  shield  with  a  central  boss,  the  spear  with  a  hollow 
globe  at  its  end,  etc.  all  partaking  of  this  general  principle:  and  with- 
out a  circle  it  was  thought  impossible  to  obtain  the  favor  of  the  gods. 
The  rites  of  divination  could  not  be  securely  and  successhilly  performed 
unless  the  operator  was  protected  within  the  consecrated  periphery  of  a 
magical  circle.  The  plant  vervain  was  supposed  to  posses  the  virtue 
of  preventing  the  effects  of  facination,  if  gathered  ritually  with  an  iron 
instrument,  at  the  rising  of  the  dog-star,  accompanied  with  the  essen- 
tial ceremony  of  describing  a  circle  on  the  turf,  the  circumference  of 
which  shall  be  equally  distant  from  the  plant,  before  it  be  taken  up. 
(Borl.  Ajii.  Corn.  p.  91.  from  Pliny.) 


ON    FREEMASONRY.  253 

Specimens  of  British  temples  founded  on  llie  principle  of  a  point 
within  a  circle  are  still  in  existence  to  demonstrate  the  truth  of  the 
theory. 

The  body  of  the  temple  at  Classerniss,  in  the  island  of  Lewis,  sacred 
to  the  sun  and  the  elements,  will  illustrate  the  principle  before  us. 
This  curious  Celtic  temple  was  constructed  on  geometrical  and  astro- 
nomical principles,  in  the  form  of  a  cross  and  a  circle.  The  circle 
consisted  of  twelve  upright  stones,  in  allusion  to  the  solar  year,  or  the 
twelve  signs  of  the  Zodiac ;  the  east,  west,  and  south  are  marked  by 
three  stones  each,  placed  without  the  circle,  in  direct  lines,  pointing  to 
each  of  those  quarters ;  and  towards  the  north,  is  a  double  row  of  twice 
nineteen  stones,  forming  two  perpendicular  parallel  lines,  with  a  sin- 
gle elevated  stone  at  the  entrance.  In  the  center  of  the  circle,  stands, 
high  exalted  above  the  rest,  the  gigantic  representative  of  the  Deity,  to 
which  the  adoration  of  his  worshippers  was  peculiarly  directed.  (Olaus 
Magnus,  apud  Borl.  Ant.  of  Corn.  p.  193  .Toland.  Druids.  Vol.  1.  p.  90. 

This  extraordinary  symbol  was  also  used  by  the  ancient  inhabitants 
of  Scandinavia ;  and  had  an  undoubted  reference  to  the  hall  of  Odin,  or 
the  Zodiac ;  which,  the  Edda  informs  us,  contained  twelve  seats  dis- 
posed in  the  form. of  a  circle,  for  the  principle  gods,  besides  an  elevated 
throne  in  the  centre  for  Odin,  as  the  representative  of  the  great  father. 

It  is  remarkable  that  in  all  the  ancient  systems  of  mythology,  the 
Great  Father,  or  the  male  generative  principle  was  uniformly  symbol- 
ized by  a  point  within  a  circle.  This  emblem  was  placed  by  the  Scan- 
dinavian priests  and  poets,  on  the  central  summit  of  a  Rainbow,  which 
was  fabled  to  be  a  bridge  leading  from  earth  to  heaven ;  the  emblem 
therefore  represented  Valhall,  or  the  supernal  palace  of  the  chief  celes- 
tial deity.  It  is  said  in  the  Edda,  that  this  bridge  "is  all  on  fire;  for 
the  giants  of  the  mountains  would  climb  up  to  heaven  by  it,  if  it  were 
easy  for  any  one  to  walk  over  it."  The  palace  thus  elevated,  was  no 
other  than  the  celestial  system,  illuminated  by  a  central  sun,  whose 
representative  on  earth  was  Thor,  a  god  depicted  by  Verstegan  with  a 
crowned  head  placed  in  the  center  of  twelve  |)right  stars,  expressive  of 
the  sun's  annual  course  through  the  Zodiacal  Signs.  (Rest,  of  Dec. 
Int.  p.  74.) 

Circumamhulation. 

The  author,  in  conclusion  of  his  course  of  lectures,  among  other 
remarks,  observes : 

"  It  was  an  ancient  custom  to  use  circumambulation  during  the 


254  OPINIONS    OF   WRITERS, 

performance  of  religious  ceremonies.  In  Greece,  while  the  sacrifice 
was  in  the  act  of  consuming,  the  priests  and  people  walked  in  proces- 
sion round  the  altar  thrice,  singing  the  sacred  hymn,  which  was  divided 
into  three  parts,  the  Strophe,  the  Antistrophe,  and  the  Epode.  While 
the  first  part  was  chanted,  they  circumambulated  in  a  direction  from 
east  to  west,  emblematical  of  the  apparent  motion  of  the  heavenly  bodies  ; 
at  the  commencement  of  the  second  part,  they  changed  their  course 
and  proceeded  from  west  to  east,  pointing  out  their  real  motion; 
and  during  the  performance  of  Epode,  they  remained  stationary  around 
the  altar,  a  symbol  of  the  stability  of  the  earth,  waiting  for  some  propi- 
tious omen  which  might  announce  the  divine  acceptance  of  the  sacri- 
fice. 

In  Britain,  the  devotional  exercises  of  the  insular  sanctuary  were 
conducted  on  a  similar  principle.  Ceremonial  processions  moved 
round  it,  regulated  by  the  mystical  numbers,  and  observing  the  course 
of  the  sun  ;  sometimes  moving  slowly  and  with  solemn  gravity,  chant- 
ing the  sacred  hymn  to  Hu  ;  at  others,  the  devotees  advanced  with  great 
rapidity,  using  impassioned  gestures,  and  saluting  each  other  with 
secret  signs.  This  was  termed,  ''the  mystical  dance  of  the  Druids" 
The  circular  movement  was  intended  to  symbolize  the  motion  of  the 
earth,  and^to  give  an  idea  of  God's  immensity  which  fills  the  universe. 

The  foundation  stone  of  every  magnificent  edifice  was  usually  laid 
in  the  north-east;  which  accounts  in  a  rational  manner  for  the  general 
disposition  of  a  newly  initiated  candidate  when  enlightened  but  unin- 
structed,  he  is  accounted  to  be  in  the  most  superficial  part  of  masonry. 
This  stone,  to  which  some  portion  of  secret  influence  was  formerly  attri- 
buted, is  directed  in  Alet's  Ritual  to  be  "  solid,  angular,  of  about  a  foot 
square,  and  laid  in  the  north-east." 


It  was  incumbent  on  the  author,  in  the  first  place,  to  account  in  a  rational  manner 
for  the  origin  of  the  custom  of  laying  the  foundation  stone  of  buildings  in  the  north- 
east. As  the  whole  machinery  of  the  religion  from  which  masonry  is  derived,  was 
founded  on  the  movements  of  the  heavenly  bodies,  there  is  doubtless  an  astronomical 
reason  for  this  practice. 

Now,  we  are  told  by  Mr.  Bryant,  quoted  by  our  author,  that  the  "Egyptian  astro- 
nomers taught  that  the  creation  of  the  world  took  place  at  the  precise  period  of  time 
when  the  sun  rose  in  Leo."  And  admitting  that  this  notion  was  got  up  when  thatcon- 
fitellation  was  situated  in  the  north-east  at  the  rising  of  the  sun,  this  circumstanc© 
would  naturally,  in  accordance  with  the  Egyptian  mode  of  worship,  induce  the  custom 
of  commencing  magnificent  edifices  at  the  north-east  comer,  in  imitation  of  that  glori- 
ous luminary,  believed  by  the  Egyptians  to  be  the  Supreme  Architect  of  the  world.  This, 


ON   FREEMASONRY.  255 

among  a  superstitious  people,  would  be  deemed  a  certain  means  of  insuring  their  sta- 
bility and  usefulness. 

Mr.  Oliver  has  bestowed  great  labor  in  his  researches  into  the  original  meaning  and 
intention  of  the  ancient  pagan  symbols,  and  shed  much  light  upon  the  subject.  But  by 
endeavoring  to  place  freemasonry,  or  something  like  it,  before  the  pagan  mysteries,  he 
has  thrown  a  veil  of  darkness  over  the  investigation,  tending  to  bewilder  his  readers 
who  have  any  wish  to  arrive  at  truth  in  this  inquiry.  By  this  course  he  expects  lo  clear 
freemasonry  from  the  imputation  of  having  descended  from  what  he  considers  a  vitia- 
ted source,  and,  on  the  contrary,  to  show  it  to  be  derived  from  a  pure  institution,  of 
which  in  his  opinion,  the  mysteries  are  a  corruption. 

In  this  way  he  thinks  to  connect  Christianity  with  ancient  masonry,  and  conse- 
quently show  that  he,  as  a  minister  of  the  gospel,  may  without  impropriety  ally  him- 
self to  the  order.  There  is  no  need  of  this  fastidiousness.  Ancient  masonry  is  a  pure 
moral  institution,  but  has  no  connection  or  relation  whatever  with  Christianity.  Its 
orio-inal  dogmas  are  totally  different;  but  these  at  present  arc  not  regarded,  nor  even 
known  to  the  craft,  who  perform  the  ceremonies  for  mere  sociabihty  and  pastime. 


The  Secret  Discipliiie^ 
Mentioned  in  ancient  Ecclesiastical  History  explained. 

A  small,  but  learned  work  bearing  this  title  has  lately  been  issued  from  the  press,  in 
this  city,  under  a  fictitious  signature,  edited  by  Samuel  L.  Knapp,  Esq. 

This  author  adduces  many  authorities,  in  addition  to  those  before  cited  in  this  vol- 
ume, which  go  to  prove  that  the  fathers  of  the  church  adopted  the  terms  and  ceremo- 
nies used  in  the  ancient  mysteries. 

The  following  are  extracts  from  the  work. 


St.  Cyril,  Bishop  of  Alexandria,  in  412,  in  his  Vllth  book  against 
Julian,  declares,  "  These  mysteries  are  so  profound  and  so  exalted,  that 
they  can  be  comprehended  by  those  only  who  are  enlightened.  I  shall 
not  therefore  attempt  to  speak  of  what  is  most  admirable  in  them,  lest 
by  discovering  them  to  the  uninitiated,  I  should  offend  against  the 
injunction  not  to  give  what  is  holy  to  the  impure,  no'  to  cast  pearls 
before  such  as  cannot  estimate  their  worth."  And  elsewhere,  "I should 
say  much  more  if  I  were  not  afraid  of  being  heard  by  those  who  are 
uninitiated ;  because  men  are  apt  to  deride  what  they  do  not  under- 
stand ;  and  the  ignorant,  not  being  aware  of  the  weakness  of  their 
minds,  condemn  what  they  ought  most  to  venerate." 

Theodoret,  Bishop  of  Cyzicus,  in  Syria,  420,  in  the  first  of  his  three 
dialogues,  that  entitled  "The  Immutable,"  introduces  Orthodoxus, 
speaking  thus — "  answer  me  if  you  please  in  mystical  and  obscure 
terms,  for,  perhaps,  there-  are  persons  present  who  are  not  initiated  in 


25G 


OPINIONS    OF    WRITERS. 


the  mysteries."  And  in  his  preface  to  Ezekiel,  tracing  up  the  secret 
discipline  to  the  commencement  of  the  Christian  era,  says,  "  these  mys- 
teries are  so  august,  that  we  ought  to  keep  them  with  the  geatest  Cau- 


tion. 


To  show  that  these  mysteries  were  retained  under  ecclesiastial 
saction  to  a  still  later  period,  I  refer  to  the  Seal  of  the  ancient  Abbey  of 
Arbroath,  in  Scotland,  and  to  the  explanation  given  of  it  by  the  Rev. 
Charles  Cordinet,  in  his  "  Description  of  the  Ruins  of  North  Britain," 
2  vols.  4to. 


"  The  figures  sculptured  on  the  seal  marked  INITIATION,  evi- 
dently reprercnt  (says  he)  some  formidable  ceremony  in  a  sacred  place 
where  a  pontiff  presides  in  state ;  one  hand  on  his  breast  expressive  of 
seriousness,  the  other  stretched  out  at  a  right  angle  holding  a  rod 
and  cross,  the  badge  of  high  office,  While  he  makes  some  awful  appeal 
respecting  a  suppliant,  who,  in  a  loose  robe,  blindfolded  with  seeming 
terror  kneels  before  the  steps  of  an  altar,  while  several  attendants  with 
drawn  swords  brandished  them  over  his  head."  Mr.  Cordinet  inti- 
mates the  resemblance  of  these  figures  to  an  engraving  which  made  the 
frontispiece*  to  a  book  about  freemasonry :  and  then  adds,  that  both 
bring  to  remembrance  a  description  which  Plutarch,  in  his  famous 
essay  "  De  Osiris,"  gives  of  the  engraving  of  a  seal  which  the  priests  of 
Isis  used  in  their  solemnities, — namely,  that  of  a  man  kneeling  with 


ON    FREEMASONRY.  257 

his  hands  bound,  a  knifn  at  his  throat,  etc.  "And  (says  he)  it  is  not  a 
little  remarkable,  which  is  more  to  the  present  purpose,  in  how  many 
particulars  the  mysterious  fate  of  Osiris,  as  recorded  by  the  above  cele- 
brated author,  corresponds  with  the  account  of //ira»i ;  a  strong  insinu- 
ation that  the  annals  of  the  latter,  however  mutilated  and  defaced, 
have  somehow  or  other  been  descended  from  the  Eleusinian  Mysteries, 
and  that  the  Masonic  rites  of  initiation  into  a  lodge,  are  a  faint  sketch, 
an  imperfect  epitome  of  the  august  ceremonies  which  took  place  at 
initiation  into  the  secrets  which  hallowed  the  j^rifjieval  fanes  :  and  this 
high  origin,  when  discerned,  may  liave  been  at  the  bottom  of  that  gen- 
eral respect  which  men  of  learning  have  avowed  for  them. 

This  subject  as  an  amusing  research  into  antiquity,  may  be  resumed ; 
it  only  remains  at  present  to  specify  that  Hiram  coming  forth  in  hal- 
lowed dignity  of  character  from  within  the  veil  of  the  sanctuary ;  vio- 
lated in  the  open  temple  of  the  world  by,  the  ignorant  and  profane; 
concealed  for  a  time  in  awful  secrecy;  the  want  of  his  presence  patheti- 
cally deplored;  the  ardent  solicitude  with  which  he  is  sought  for; 
the  acclamation  of  joy  at  finding  him  again ;  and  consequent  discovery 
of  the  word,  almost  of  itself  developes  the  secret  lohich  the  "personification 
had  involved.'''' 


It  does  indeed  developfe  the  secret,  that  the  Hiram  of  masonry  is  substituted  for 
Osiris,  one  of  the  pagan  gods  of  the  mysteries.  Mr.  Cordinet  understands  what  is  meant 
by  the  lost  word,  which  is  declared  in  the  royal  arch  degree,  to  be  recovered,  and  proves 
to  be  the  Logos,  the  second  person  of  the  ancient  trinity,  the  lost  sun. 

"  The  rod  and  cross,  the  badge  of  high  office,"  held  by  the  pontifij  isprecii^Iy  a  copy 
of  the  measure  of  the  Nile,  which  was  originally  put  into  the  hands  of  a  figure  of  Anu- 
bis,  to  indicate  the  rise  of  the  inundation,  upon  which  mamly  depended  the  subsistence, 
or  tempgral  salvation  of  Egypt. 

This  pole  or  rod  afterwards  obtained,  saysPluche,  the  name  of  Caduceus,  or  Mercu- 
ry's wand,  and  was  borne  as  a  seeptre  or  staff  of  honor,  indicating  a  sacred  person. 
The  figure  (10),  a  cabaHstic  number,  supposed,  says  Bailey,  "  to  conjoin  the  virtue  of 
all  numbers,"  marked  upon  this  copy,  shows  its  original  to  have  been  a  measure.  Mr. 
Oliver  observes,  that  "  the  amount  of  the  points  contained  in  a  Pythagorean  circle,  is 
exactly  ten,  which  is  the  consummation  of  all  things." 


CHAPTER    VI. 


AN    INQUIRY    INTO    THE    ORIGIN    AND    HISTORY    OF    FREEMASONRY. 

"The  spirit  of  innovation  had  seized  all  the  Brethren.  No  man  can  give  a  tolerable 
account  of  the  origin,  history,  or  object  of  the  Order,  and  it  appeared  to  all  as  a  lost 
or  forgotten  mystery.  The  symbols  seemed  to  be  eqally  susceptible  of  every  inter- 
pretation, and  none  of  these  seemed  entitled  to  any  decided  preference."— Pro/cssor 
Rohison. 

Proofs  of  the  existence  of  the  society  of  freemasons  at  certain  remote 
periods,  added  to  the  occurrence  of  events  that  would  naturally  tend  to 
create  it,  will  point  out  its  origin  with  sufficient  accuracy  for  the  present 
inquiry.  No  regular  history  of  the  order  is  attainable  at  this  time,  nor 
is  it  essential  to  our  purpose. 

It  is  highly  probable,  as  asserted  by  Dr.  Anderson,  that  many  valu- 
able documents  relating  to  the  society,  were  destroyed  at  the  revolution 
of  the  order  in  1717,  by  some  scrupulous  brethren,  for  fear  that  an 
improper  use  might  be  made  of  them. 

I  shall  endeavor  to  show  that  the  British  Druids  instituted  this 
society,  and  the  first  consideration  will  be  to  point  out  the  perii)d  when 
they  were  in  a  condition  that  required  a  resort  to  such  secret  means  for 
the  preservation  and  continuance  of  their  religious  rites. 

We  have  seen  that  their  open  worship  was  entirely  prohibited  by  the 
edict  of  Canute,  who  reigned  from  1015  to  1035.  Within  those 
periods,  therefore,  this  edict  was  issued ;  by  which  the  very  existence 
of  the  Druids  in  England  was  put  at  hazard.*  Cut  ofT  from  their 
favorite  devotional  retreat,  no  means  were  left  them  but  to  devise  some 
mode  to  evade  the  scrutinizing  eye  of  the  ministers  of  the  law. 

"  About  the  beginning  of  the  fiflh  century,  (says  Lawrie,)  Theodo- 
sius  the  Great  prohibited,  and  almost  totally  extinguished  the  pagan 
theology  in  the  Roman  empire,  (Gibbon  ;)  and  the  mysteries  of  Eleusis, 
suffered  in  the  general  devastation.  (Zosim,  Hist.)  It  is  probable, 
however,  that  these  mysteries  were  secretly  celebrated,  in  spite  of  the 
severe  edicts  of  Theodosius  ;  and  that  they  were  partly  continued  dur- 

♦  It  appears  that  paganism  existed  at  this  time,  not  only  in  England,  but  in  most  of 
the  other  states  of  Europe.  Dr.  Lingard,  speaking  of  Olave,  king  of  Norway,  says, 
"  That  prince  was  a  zealous  Christian ;  but  his  religious  innovations  irritated  the  jealousy 
of  the  pagan  priests ;  and  he  was  murdered  in  an  msurrection  of  his  subjects,"  [m  1028.] 


ORIGIN    AND    HISTORY    OF    FREEMASONRY.  259 

ing  the  dark  ages,  though  stripped  of  their  original  purity  and  splen- 
dor :  we  are  certain,  at  least,  that  many  rites  of  the  pagan  religion 
were  performed,  under  the  dissembled  names  of  convivial  meetiiigs, 
long  after  the  publication  of  the  emperor's  edict.  (Gibbon.)  And  Psel- 
lus,  informs  us,  that  the  mysteries  of  Ceres  subsisted  in  Athens  till 
the  eighth  century  of  the  Christian  ela,  and  were  never  totally  sup- 
pressed." (p.  22.) 

A  similar  course  would  naturally  suggest  itself  to  the  Druids  :  that 
such  a  course  was  adopted,  and  that  they  fixed  on  the  craft  of  masonry, 
as  a  cloak  under  which  to  screen  their  mystic  ceremonies  and  dogmas 
will,  it  is  believed,  appear  so  evident  in  the  sequel  as  to  leave  no  room 
for  doubt  upon  the  subject. 

During  the  reign  of  Canute,  therefore,  it  moy  fairly  be  presumed, 
the  famous  freemason  society  was  first  established. 

The  conquest  of  England,  by  William,  duke  of  Normandy,  occur- 
red in  1066,  and  it  is  highly  probable  that  many  of  the  artisans  who 
were  induced  by  him  to  emigrate  from  France  into  England,  were 
initiated  into  the  order  of  freemasons,  and  greatly  contributed  to  raise 
its  fame  as  an  operative  *  masonic  institution.  "  King  William,  (says 
Dr.  Anderson,)  brought  many  expert  masons  from  France.  He  died 
in  Normandy,  in  1087." 

It  is  probable  that  many  of  these  masons  were  attached  to  the 
Druidical  religion,  as  the  rites  of  Druidism  are  said  to  have  been 
openly  practiced  in  France,  upwards  of  a  hundred  years  after  the  edict 
of  Canute  prohibiting  them  in  England, 

The  condition  and  character  of  the  people  of  England».at  the  time 
of  the  conquest,  is  thus  portrayed  by  Guthrie : 

"  With  regard  to  the  manners  of  the  'Anglo-Saxons,  we  can  say 
little,  but  that  they  were  in  general,  a  rude,  uncultivated  people,  igno- 
rant of  letters,  unskilful  in  the  mechanical  arts,  untamed  to  submission 
under  law  and  government,  addicted  to  intemperance,  riot,  and  disor- 
der. Even  so  late  as  the  time  of  Canute,  they  sold  their  children  and 
kindred  into  foreign  parts. 

Their  best  quality  was  their  military  courage,  which  yet  was  not 
supported  by  discipline  or  conduct.  Even  the  Norman  historians,  not- 
withstanding the  low  state  of  the  arts  in  their  own  country,  speak  of 
them  as  barbarous,  when  they  mention  the  invasion  of  the  duke  of 
Normandy.  Conquest  placed  the  people  in  a  situation  to  receive  slowly 
from  abroad  the  rudiments  of  science  and  cultivation,  and  to  correct 
their  rough  and  licentious  manners.' 


2*60  ORIfilN    AND    IIISTORY 

"  He  (William)  introduced  the  Norman  laws  and  language.  He 
built  the  stone  square  tower  at  London^;  bridled  the  country  with  forts, 
and  disarmed  the  old  inhabitants ;  in  short,  he  attempted  every  measure 
possible  to  obliterate  even  the  traces  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  constitution ; 
though,  at  his  coronation,  he  took  the  same  oath  that  had  been  taken 
by  the  ancient  Saxon  kings."  Great  advancement  however  in  the  art  of 
building  it  seems,  soon  followed  this  event.  Dr.  Henry,  in  his  "  His- 
tory of  the  necessary  arts  in  Britain,  from  1066  to  1216,"  says: 

"  Architecture,  in  all  its  branches,  received  as  great  improvements 
in  this  period  as  agriculture.  The  truth  is,  that  the  twelfth  century 
may  very  properly  be  called  the  age  of  architecture,  in  which  the  rag® 
^or  building  was  more  violent  in  England  than  at  any  other  time. 

"  The  great  and  general  improvements  that  were  made  in  the 
frabrics  of  houses  and  churches  in  the  first  years  of  this  centur}^  are 
thus  described  by  a  cotemporary  writer:  'The  new  cathedrals  and 
innumerfible  churches  that  were  built  in  all  parts,  together  with  the 
many  magnificent  cloisters  and  monasteries,  and  other  apartments  of 
monks,  that  were,  then  erected,  afford  a  sufficient  proof  of  the  great 
felicity  of  England  in  the  reign  of  Henry  I.'  " 

Hejiry  I.  was  the  third  son  of  William,  and  ascended  the  throne  in 
1100;  only  thirty-four  years  after  the  conquest.  To  enable  him  to 
carry  on  such  extensive  works  in  architecture,  required  that  his  sub- 
jects should  have  been  previously  instructed  by  his  predecessors. 
Under  the  patronage,  therefore,  of  King  William,  there  is  the  strong- 
est reason  to  believe,  the  masonic  society  was  fostered  and  protected. 
And'  although  the  principal  purpose  of  the  leading  members  of  the 
institution  was  the  preservation  of  their  religious  rites,  yet  attention 
was  required  to  be  given  by  them  to  the  ostensible  object  of  the  estab- 
lishment. Through  this  means,  there  is  no  reason  to  doubt,  that  arch- 
itecture was  improved  to  a  greater  extent  in  England,  at  this  time,  than 
it  would  have  been  but  for  this  adventitious  circumstance. 

The  mere  craftsman,  however,  knew  nothing  of  the  secret  view^s  of 
his  superiors.  The  symbols  made  use  of  in  the  lodge  were  unintel- 
ligible to  him.  But  he  was  pleased  with  the  tinsel  show  of  the  repre- 
sentations; and  when  he  was  found  sufficiently  intelligent,  and  was 
thought  worthy  to  be  trusted,  he  was  raised  to  the  sublime  degree  of 
Holy  Royal  Arch,  and  gained  the  honorary  appellation  of  companion,. 
Here,  if  duly  attentive  to  the  symbols  and  ceremonies,  he  might  make 
some  progress  towards  discovering  the  hidden  scheme  upon  which  free 
masonry  was  founded. 


or    FREEMASONRY.  ^61 

Lawrio  observes,  "  The  principles  of  the  order  were  even  imported 
into  Scotland,*  where  they  continued,  for  many  ages,  in  their  prim- 
itive simplicity,  long  after  they  had  been  extinguished  in  the  conti- 
nental kingdoms.  What  those  causes  were  which  continued  the  socie- 
ties of  freemasons  longer  in  Britain  than  in  other  countries,  it  may  no^ 
perhaps,  be  easy  to  determine  ;  but  as  the  fact  itself  is  unquestionably 
true,  it  must  have  arisen  either^from  favorable  circumstances  in  the 
political  state  of  Britain,  which  did  not  exist  in  the  other  governments 
of  Europe ;  or  from  the  superior  policy,  by  w'hich  the  British  masons 
eluded  the  suspicions  of  their  enemies,  and  the  superior  prudence  with 
which  they  maintained  the  primitive  simplicity  and  respectability  of 
the  order.  In  this  manner  did  freemasonry  flourish  in  Britain  when 
it  was  completely  abolished  in^every  part  of  the  world." 

"  That  freemasonry  was  introduced  into  Scotland  by  those  archi- 
tects who  built  the  abbey  of  Kilwinning,  is  manifest,  not  only  from 
those  authentic  documents,  by  which  the  existence  of  the  Ki|winning 
lodge  has  been  traced  back  as  far  as  the  end  of  the  fifteenth  century, 
but  by  other  collateral  arguments  which  amount  almost  to  a  demon- 
stration. 

"  In  every  country  where  the  temporal  and  spiritual  jurisdiction  of 
the  Pope  was  acknowledged,  there  was  a  continual  demand,  particu- 
larly during  the  twelfth  century,  for  religious  structures,  and  conse. 
quently  for  operative  masons,  proportional  to  the  piety  of  the  inhab- 
itants; and  the  opulence  of  their  ecclesiastical  establishments  ;  and 
there  was  no  kingdom  in  Europe  where  the  zeal  of  the  inhabitants 
for  popery  was  more  ardent,  where  the  kings  and  nobles  were  more 
"  liberal  to  the  clergy,  and  where,  of  consequence,  the  church  was  more 
richly  endowed,  than  in  Scotland. f  The  demand,  therefore,  for  ele- 
gant cathedrals  and  ingenious  artists,  must  have  been  proportionably 
greater  than  in  other  countries,  and  that  demand  could  be  supplied 
only  from  the  trading  associations  on  the  continent.  We  are  author- 
ized, therefore,  to  conclude,  that  those  numerous  and  elegant  ruins 
which  still  adorn  the  villages  of  Scotland,  were  erected  by  foreign 
masons,  who  introduced  into  this  island  the  customs  of  their  order. 

"  It  is  a  curious  fact,  that  in  one  of  those  towns  where  there  is  an 
elegant  abbey,  which  was  built  in  the  twelfth  century,  the  author  of 
this  history  has  often  heard  that  it  was  erected  by  a  company  of  indus. 

*  A.  D.  1140.  Vid.  Statistical  account  of  Scotland,  vol.  xi.  Parish  of  Kilwinning; 
or,  Edinburgh  IMagazine  for  April,  1802,  p.  234. 

t  Thp  church  possessed  about  one  half  of  the  property  in  the  kingdom.  Robertson's 
Hist,  of  Scotland. 


262  ORIGIN    AND    HISTORY 

trious  men  who  spoke  in  a  foreign  language,  and  lived  separately  from 
the  town's  people.  And  stories  are  still  told  about  their  petty  quarrels 
with  the  inhabitants. 

"  It  was  probably  about  this  time,  also,  that  freemasonry  was  intro- 
duced into  England;  but  whether  the  English  received  it  from  the 
Scotch  masons  at  Kilwinning,  or  from  other  brethren  who  had  arrived 
from  the  continent,  there  is  no  method  of  determining.  The  fraternity 
in  England,  however,  maintain  that  St.  Alban  wasthe  first  that  brought 
masonry  to  Britain,  about  the  end  of  the  third  century ;  that  the  brethren 
received  a  charter  from  King  Athelstane,  and  that  his  brother  Edwin 
summoned  all  the  lodges  to  meet  at  York,  which  formed  the  first  grand 
lodge  of  England,  in  926.  But  these  are  merely  assertions,  not  only 
incapable  of  proof  from  authentic  history,  but  inconsistent,  also,  with 
several  historical  events  which  rest  upon  indubitable  evidence. — (See 
Dr.  Plot's  Nat.  Hist,  of  Stafl^brdshire,  chap,  viii,  pp.  316-318.)  In  sup 
port  of  these  opinions,  indeed,  it  is  alleged,  that  no  other  lodge  has 
laid  claim  to  greater  antiquity  than  that  of  York,  and  that  its  jurisdiction 
over  the  other  lodges  of  England  has  been  invariably  acknowledged  by 
the  whole  fraternity.  But  this  argument  only  proves  that  York  was 
the  birth  place  of  freemasonry  in  England.  It  brings  no  additional 
evidence  in  support  of  the  improbable  stories  about  St.  Alban,  Athel- 
stane, and  Edwin.  If  the  antiquity  of  freemasonry  in  Britain  can  be 
defended  only  by  the  forgery  of  silly  and  uninteresting  stories,  it  does 
not  deserve  to  be  defended  at  all.  Those  who  invent  and  propagate 
such  tales,  do  not  surely  consider  that  they  bring  discredit  upon  their 
order  by  the  warmth  of  their  zeal ;  and  that  by  supporting  what  is  false, 
they  debar  thinking  men  from  believing  what  is  true." 

Mr.  Lawrie  has  made  it  appear  very  probable  that  the  churches 
erected  in  Scotland  in  the  twelfth  century,  were  built  by  foreign  masons. 
Indeed,  the  want  of  skill  in  the  natives  is  a  sufficient  evidence  of  the 
feet.  But  this  is  no  proof  that  they  belonged  to  the  freemason  society. 
And  the  dissolution  of  the  trading  associations  on  the  continent,  of 
which  he  speaks,  as  soon  as  the  rage  for  church-building  ceased,  while 
freemasonry  held  its  ground  in  England,  is  conclusive  that  there  was 
no  connection  between  them. 

But  even  admitting  that  the  foreign  m?isons  who  built  the  abbey  of 
Kilwinning,  were  freemasons,  the  presumption  would  be,  that  they  had 
been  initiated  in  England;  and  there  is  no  evidence  that  the  secrets  of 
the  society  were  communicated  to  the  Scotch,  They  could  be  of  no 
possible  advantage  to  operative  masons,  and  the  people  of  Scotland 


OF    FREEMASONRY.  263 

appear  to  have  been  thoroughly  imbued  with  popery  to  embrace  them 
in  a  religious  point  of  view.  Besides,  if  these  foreigners  were  free- 
masons, and  had  admitted  into  their  society  a  portion  of  the  inhabitants 
of  the  places  where  they  were  employed,  it  is  not  probable  that  the 
petty  quarrels  mentioned  by  Lawrie,  would  have  occurred. 

The  case  was  different  in  England,  where  Druidism  had' been 
revived  by  the  Danish  emigrants,  after  its  conquest  by  that  nation. 

Upon  the  whole,  there  is  no  conclusive  evidence  that  freemasonry 
was  established  in  Scotland,  till  after  its  reorganization  in  England,  in 
1717. — The  mason-associations  in  that  country  before  this  period, 
appear  to  be  no  other  than  common  trade-companies,  such  as  those 
incorporated  in  London. 

They  had  a  chief  or  grand  master,  w'ith  deputies  in  the  different 
counties;  all  appointed  by  the  king;  tho  sometimes  by  consent  of  the 
craft.  The  master  was  styled  the  patron,  protector,  judge,  or  master 
of  the  masons  of  Scotland  ;  and  the  craft  styled  themselves  "  free  of  the 
masons  and  hammermen."     Lawrie  cites  the  following  : 

"  In  the  Privy  Seal-book  of  Scotland  there  is  a  letter  dated  at  Holy- 
rood-house,  25th  Sept.  1590,  and  granted  by  King  James  VL  '  to  Patrick 
Copland  of  Udaught,  for  using  and  exercising  the  office  of  War- 
danrie  over  the  art  and  craft  of  masonrie,  over  all  the  boundis  of 
Aberdeen,  Baff,  and  Kincardine,  to  had  warden  and  justice  courts 
within  the  boundis,  and  there  to  minister  justice.'  '*  Lawrie  also  ob- 
serves, that  "In  the  year  1645,  a  particular  jurisdiction  for  masons  was 
established  in  France.  All  differences  which  related  to  the  art  of 
building,  were  decided  by  particular  judges  who  were  called  overseers 
ofthe  art  of  masonry;  and  several  counsellors,  were  appointed  for  plead- 
ing the  causes  which  were  refered  to  their  decision.  This  institution 
has  such  a  striking  resemblance  to  the  warden  courts  which  existed  in 
Scotland  in  the  sixteenth  century,  that  it  must  have  derived  its  origin  from 
these.  In  both  of  them,  those  causes  only  were  decided  which  related 
to  masonry,  and  overseers  were  chosen  in  both  for  bringing  these  causes 
to  a  decision." 

There  is  nothing  of  freemasonry  in  all  this ;  there  is  nothing  of 
Druidism,  the  very  spirit  and  soul  of  the  order,  to  be  seen  in  it. — There 
is  every  reason  to  believe  that  freemasonry  was  first  established  in  Eng- 
land, and  that  there  it  remained  till  the  famous  meeting  of  the  brother- 
hood, at  the  Apple  Tree  tavern,  in  1717,  when  it  took  wing,  and  visited 
all  parts  ofthe  civilized  world. 

In  fact,  there  was  no  cause  for  its  institution  in  any  other  country 


'264  '  OillGIN    AND    HISTORY 

than  England,  where  the  edict  of  Canute  had  compelled  the  Druids  to 
relinquish  their  religion  altogether,  or  practise  its  rites  and  ceremonies 
covertly. 

'  "  As  the  Druids  (says  Hutchinson)  were  a  sect  of  religious  peculiar 
to  Gaul  and  Britain,  it  may  not  be  improper  to  cast  our  eyes  on  the 
ceremonies  they'used:  their  antiquity  and  peculiar  station,  render  it 
probable  some  of  their  rites  and  institutions  might  be  retained,  in  form- 
ing the  ceremonies  of  our  society.  In  so  modern  an  era  as  11 40,  they 
were  reduced  to  a  regular  body  of  religious  in  France,  and  built  a  col- 
lie in  the  city  of  Orleans.  They  were  heretofore  one  of  the  two  estates 
of  France,  to  whom  were  committed  the  care  of  providing  sacrifices,  of 
prescribing  law^s  for  worship,  and  deciding  cbntroversies  concerning 
rights  and  properties,"  etc. — (Spirit  of  Mas.  p.  37.)^ 

As,  therefore,  it  does  not  appear  that  Druidism  at  any  time,  was 
under  a  positive  legal  restraint  except  in  England,  it  may  be  reasonably 
inferred  that  its  offspring  freemasonry  existed  no  where  else,  till  the 
period  above  stated. 

*'  All  the  brethren  on  the  continent  agree  in  saying,  that  freemasonry 
was  imported  from  Great  Britain'about  the  beginning  of  this  [the  eigh- 
teenth] century,  and  in  the  form  of  a  mystical  society." — (Robison's 
Proofs,*p.  393.) 

Robison,  in  speaking  of  freemasonry  in  Germany,  observes,  "  Tho 
no  man  could  pretend  that  he  understood  the  true  meaning  of  free- 
masonry, its  origin,  its  history,  or  its  real  aim,  all  saw  that  the  interpreta- 
tions of  its  hieroglyphics,  and  the  rituals  of  the  new  degress  imported 
from  France,  were  quite  gratuitous.  It  appears,  therefore,  that  the  safest 
thing  for  them  was  an  appeal  to  the  birth-place  of  masonry.  They  sent 
to  London  for  instructions.  There  they  learned,  that  nothing  was 
acknowledged  for  genuine,  unsophisticated  masonry  but  the  three 
degrees ;  and  that  the  mother  lodge  of  London  alone,  could,  by  her 
instructions,  prevent  the  most  dangerous  schisms  and  innovations. 
Many  lodges,  therefore,  applied  for  patents  and  instructions.  Patents 
were  easily  made  out,  and  most  willingly  sent  to  the  zealous  brethren  ; 
and  these  were  thankfully  received  and  paid  for.  But  instruction  was 
*  not  so  easy  a  matter. 

"  They  afterwards  sent  a  deputation  to  Old  Aberdeen,  Scotland,  to 
inquire  after  the  caves  where  their  venerable  mysteries  were  known, 
and  their  treasures  were  hid.  They  had,  they  thought,  merited  some 
confidence,  for  they  had  remitted  annual  contributions  to  their  unknown 
superiors  to  the  amount  of  some  thousands  of  dollars.     But  alas  !  their 


OF    FREEMASONRY.  '  265 

ambassadors  found  the  freemasons  of  Old  Aberdeen  ignorant  of  all  this, 
and  equally  eager  to  learn  from  the  ambassadors,  what  was  the  true 
origin  and  meaning  of  freemasonry,  of  which  they  knew  nothing  but 
the  simple  tale  of  old  Hiram." 

Mr.  Ward,  in  his  Anti-Masonic  Review,  v.  1,  p.  345,  quotes  the 
following  from  a  French  work,  entitled  "  Essais  sur  la  Franche  Ma- 
^onnerie,"  by  J.  L.  Laurens,  which  shows  very  conclusively  that  the 
freemason  society  originated  in  England.      Mr.  Laurens  says  : 

"  Impossible  as  it  is,  to  determine  the  precise  era  of  the  establish- 
ment of  freemasonry  in  Europe,  so  easy  it  is,  to  show  in  what  man- 
ner and  by  what  means  it  spread  and  propagated  itself.  Many  reasons 
concur  to  make  us  believe  that  the  English  brought  it  into  Europe ;  and 
that  they  have  given  it  the  exterior  form,  and  the  different  names  by 
which  we  know  it  at  this  day.  Independent  of  the  historical  monu- 
ments, which  prove  that  long  before  the  1 4th  century  it  was  known  in 
England,  it  appears  indisputable  that  in  that  country  of  Europe  it  has 
been  furnished,  if  I  may  so  express  myself,  with  the  form  in  which  it  has 
come  to  us.  There  is  not  a  doubt  that  the  names  Franche- Magonnerie 
and  Francs-magons  are  purely  of  English  origin.  Freemasonry — free- 
mason ;  that  is  to  say,  magonnerie  libres,  magons  lebres,  literally  rendered 
into  French,  have  produced  those  strange  terms,  a  manner  of  speaking 
far  enough  removed  both  from  our  customs,  and  the  genius  of  our 
language  ;  for  it  is  certain  if  what  we  understand  by freemasonry  and 
freemasons,  had  received  in  France,  or  in  any  other  country  besides 
England,  any  name  whatever,  that  name  could  not  have  had  so  cha- 
racteristic a  mark  of  the  English  tongue.  A  slight  knowledge  of  the 
principal  languages  of  Europe,  and  especially  to  know,  that  in  Eng- 
lish the  adjective  commonly  precedes  the  noun,  is  enough  in  order  to 
become  convinced  that  these  names  have  been  formed  by  the  genius  of 
the  English  tongue.' 

"  After  criticising  the  masonic  word  lodge  at  some  length,  he  goes  on 
to  say :  '  I  might  further  push  the  investigation  of  the  terms  of  English 
etymology  peculiar  to  freemasonry,  did  I  not  fear  to  enter  upon  details, 
which  I  am  not  permitted  to  publish.  The  usages  and  practices  of  the 
lodges  in  what  concerns  only  the  exterior  of  freemasonry,  present  some 
points  of  resemblance  not  less  striking ;  and  it  is  this  intimate  relation 
with  the  peculiar  character  of  the  English  people,  that  I  cite  in  support 
of  my  proposition. 

'  What  is  the  origin  of  that  wearisome  quantity  of  healths,  with  which 
the  masonic  entertainments  were  formerly  burdened,  which  have  been 

34 


266  ORIGIN    AND    HISTORY 

the  occasion  of  so  much  sarcasm  agamst  freemasonry,  and  which  a 
good  taste  has  now  wisely  reformed  ?  Is  not  this  immoderate  use  of  a 
custom  innocent  in  itself,  an  image  of  the  too  often  repeated  toast,  which 
so  much  distinguishes  English  Clubs  ?  The  love  of  good  cheer,  the 
profusion,  the  lengthening  out  of  the  feast,  the  intemperate  drinking, 
which  are  contrary  to  French  sobriety,  and  which  reason  and  decency 
have  long  since  banished  to  the  taverns  of  London,  to  which  ihey  legi- 
timately belong,  can  these  have  any  relation  to  the  object  of  masonic 
fellowship,  of  which  they  are  at  best  only  a  despicable  parody  ?  The 
grossness  of  these  practices,  introduced  into  France  with  freemasonry, 
is  too  nearly  allied  to  the  taste  of  the  English  nation,  not  to  be  attributed 
to  their  invention. 

•  The  nature  of  the  customs  connected  with  freemasonry,  its  pecu- 
liar name,  the  most  of  the  words  that  express  the  matters  which  make 
up  its  exterior  form,  are  precisely  conformed  to  the  taste  and  peculiar 
genius  of  the  English,  and  prove  that  in  England  it  began  to  have  being 
as  a  society.' 

"  After  further  argument  from  the  geographical  position,  free  insti- 
tutions, and  melancholy  temperament  of  the  English,  Mons.  Laurens 
adds  :  'all  these  observations  incline  us  to  believe,  that  it  is  from  Eng- 
land freemasonry  comes  to  us,  as  it  exists  now  ;  that  is  to  say,  dressed 
in  this  whimsical  fashion,  which  almost  entirely  disguises  it,  and 
scarcely  permits  us  to  discover  it  in  the  precious  allegory  of  the  Egyp- 
tian philosophy.'  " — p.  21  5. 

The  allegories  of  the  Egyptian  mysteries  required  to  be  disguised, 
to  prevent  the  real  purport  of  masonry's  being  discovered.  The  idea 
of  the  author,  that  the  English  first  established  freemasonry  is  very 
correct,  but  inaccurately  expressed :  they  did  not  bring  it  into  Europe  ; 
they  manufactured  it  themselves  at  home,  from  what  he  calls  "  the 
precious  allegory  of  the  Egyptian  philosophy.'* 

I  will  now  produce  such  proofs  of  the  long  standing  of  the  society 
of  freemasons  in  England,  as  have  survived  the  wreck  of  time. 

Examination  of  a  Mason,  by  King  Henri/  VI. 

One  of  the  documents  referred  to  by  freemasons  in  proof  of  their 
antiquity,  and  which  is  considered  as  more  decisive  than  any  other,  is 
a  paper  said  to  have  been  found  in  the  Bodleian  library,  in  1696,  and 
supposed  to  have  been  written  in  about  the  year  1436.  It  purports  to 
bean  examination  of  one  of  the  brotherhood  by  King  Henry  VI. 

Altho  there  are  suspicious  circumstances  attending  this   manu* 


OF    FREEMASONRY.  267 

script  in  regard  to  its  authenticity,  yet  it  appears  to  possess  an  internal 
evidence  of  genuineness.  The  objections  to  it  are,  that  it  was  first 
printed  at  Frankfort,  in  Germany,  as  late  as  1748,  and  is  accompanied 
with  annotations  attributed  to  the  learned  John  Locke,  a  most  absurd 
supposition,  tending  to  cast  a  doubt  upon  the  original  document  itself. 
The  annotations  never  eminated  from  the  philosophical  mind  of  Locke. 
They  Avere  written  by  a  zealous  mason  superstitiously  credulous  in 
the  mysteries  of  the  craft,  or  intending  to  impose  upon  the  credulty  of 
others.  Locke  was  not  a  mason,  and  if  he  had  been,  he  would  not  have 
given  countenance  to  the  absurdities  set  forth  in  this  manuscript. 

It  would  seem,  that  the  Frankfort  editor  had  heard  of  the  learned 
John  Locke,  and  in  order  to  give  the  greater  respectability  to  the  record, 
he  singles  him  out  as  a  proper  person  to  write  a  commentary  upon 
it.  But  not  having  a  sufficient  knowledge  of  English  characters  to 
select  a  suitable  person  to  be  addressed  by  Locke  on  the  occasion,  he 
directs  his  letter  enclosing  the  record  and  comments,  to  the  Rt.  Hon. 
*  *  *,  Earl  of  *  *  *  *;  and  for  fear  of  detection  by  what  is  technically 
called  an  alibi,  he  dates  the  letter,  without  giving  the  place  from  whence 
it  was  written.  May  6,  1696.  The  address  continued  to  be  thus  printed 
in  copies  issued  in  England  as  late  as  1764,  when  Dermott  first  pub- 
lished his  Ahiman  Rezon.  Since  that  period,  some  English  editor,  to 
rid  the  document  of  this  awkward  appearance,  substituted  for  the  blanks 
Thomas  Pembroke.  Hutchinson  gives  this  amendment  in  1772. 
Where  did  he  obtain  the  information?  The  parties  concerned,  how- 
ever, w^ere  all  defunct,  and  there  were  no  means  of  detecting  the  fraud. 
But,  altho  the  connecting  of  the  name  of  John  Locke  in  this  affair,  is 
evidently  a  forgery,  still  that  does  not  destroy  the  validity  of  the  record, 
which  accords  in  every  respect  with  Druidical  masonry. 

This  paper  is  said  to  have  been  found  in  the  desk  of  a  deceased 
brother  at  Frankfort,  but  how  it  came  into  his  possession  is  not 
accounted  for.  If  believed  to  be  authentic,  it  would  no  doubt,  be  highly 
prized  by  a  superstitious  mason,  and  preserved  with  great  care.  Every- 
thing, at  the  time  of  its  supposed  discovery  in  1696,  relating  to  the 
origin  and  purport  of  masonry,  w^as  kept  a  profound  secret ;  and  this 
document  went  to  expose  both.  It  is,  therefore,  not  a  little  surprising 
that  the  fraternity  should  ever  have  acknowledged  its  authenticity.  The 
pride  of  antiquity  seems  in  this  case  to  have  prevailed  over  discretion, 
for  all  masonic  writers  claim  it  as  genuine.  The  author  of  a  work 
entitled,  Annales  Mago7mique,  speaking  of  this  document,  says,  "  We 
ought  to  value  this  piece  the  more,  because  it  is  an  historical  monu- 


268  ORIGIN    AND    HISTORY 

merit  of  the  dawn  of  the  fifteenth  century,  a  time  when  we  march 
through  a  vast  wilderness.  So  the  thirsty  traveler,  finding  an  unex- 
pected fountain  in  the  desert,  rests  and  refreshes  himself,  and  quits  it 
only  with  painful  regret." — (See  Anti-mas.  Review,  vol.  2d.  p.  23.) 

I  shall  give  the  whole  of  this  curious  document.  In  copying  it, 
however,  I  have  changed  the  ancient  orthography  to  the  present,  and 
corrected,  according  to  the  annotations,  the  errors  it  contains  in  respect 
to  persons  and  places. 

The  title  of  the  paper  is.  Certain  questions,  with  answers  to  the  same, 
concerning  the  mystery  of  masonry,  written  by  King  Henry,  the  sixth, 
and  faithfully  copied  by  me,  John  Leylande,  antiquarius,  by  command 
of  his  highness. 

They  are  as  follows : 

What  mote  it  be  ? — It  is  the  knowledge  of  nature  and  the  power  of 
its  various  operations;  particularly,  the  skill  .of  reckoning,  of  weights 
and  measures,  of  constructing  dwellings  and  buildings  of  all  kinds, 
and  the  true  manner  of  forming  all  things  for  the  use  of  man. 

Where  did  it  begin  ? — It  began  with  the  first  men  of  the  east,  who 
were  before  the  first  men  of  the  west,  and  coming  westerly,  it  hath 
brought  with  it  all  comforts  to  the  wild  and  comfortless. 

Who  brought  it  to  the  west  ? — The  Phenicians,  who  being  great 
merchants,  came  first  from  the  east  into  Phenicia,  for  the  convenience 
of  commerce,  both  east  and  west,  by  the  Red  and  Mediterranean  seas. 

How  came  it  into  England  ? — Pythagoras,  a  Grecian,  traveled  to 
acquire  knowledge  in  Egypt  and  Syria,  and  in  every  other  land  where 
the  Pheni':ians  had  planted  masonry  ;  and  gaining  admittance  into  all 
lodges  of  masons,  he  learned  much,  and  returned  and  dwelt  in  Grecia 
Magna,  growing  and  becoming  mighty  wise,  and  greatly  renowned. 
Here  he  formed  a  great  lodge  at  Crotona,  and  made  many  masons, 
some  of  whom  traveled  into  France  and  there  made  many  more,  from 
whence,  in  process  of  time,  the  art  passed  into  England. 

Do  masons  discover  their  arts  to  others  ? — Pythagoras,  when  he 
traveled  to  gain  knowledge,  was  first  made  [initiated]  and  then  taught ; 
this  course  should  rightly  be  applied  to  all  others. — Nevertheless 
masons  have  always,  from  time  to  time,  communicated  to  mankind 
such  of  their  secrets  as  might  be  generally  useful ;  they  have  kep^ 
back  such  only  as  might  be  hurtful  if  taught  to  improper  persons,  or 
such  as  would  not  be  beneficial  without  the  necessary  teaching  joined 
thereto  in  the  lodge ;  or  such  as  do  bind  the  brethren  moro  strongly^ 
by  the  profits  and  convenience  accruing  to  the  fraternity  therefrom. 


OF    FREEMASONRY.  269 

What  arts  have  the  masons  taught  mankind  ? — The  arts  of  agricul- 
ture, astronomy,  arithmatic,  music,  poetry,  chymistry,*  government  and 
religion. 

How  does  it  happen  that  masons  are  better  teachers  than  other 
men? — They  only  have  the  art  of  Jifiding  new  arts^  which  the  first 
masons  received  from  God;  by  which  they  discover  what  arts  they 
please,  and  the  true  way  of  teaching  the  same.  What  other  men  find 
out,  is  only  by  chance,  and  therefore  but  of  little  value,  I  tro. 

What  do  the  masons  conceal  and  hide  1 — They  conceal  the  art  of 
finding  new  arts,  and  that  for  their  own  profit  and  praise:  they  conceal 
the  art  of  keeping  secrets,  that  so  the  world  may  hide  nothing  from 
them.  They  conceal  the  art  of  wonder-working  and  for  telling  things 
to  come,  that  so  the  same  art  may  not  be  used  by  the  wicked  to  a  bad 
end;  they  also  conceal  the  art  of  changing^  the  way  of  obtaining  the 
faculty  of  Abrac,  the  skill  of  becoming  good  and  perfect  without  the 
aid  of  hope  or  fear,  and  the  universal  language  of  masons. 

Will  you  teach  me  the  same  arts? — You  shall  be  taught  if  you  be 
worthy,  and  able  to  learn. 

Do  all  masons  know  more  than  other  men  ? — Not  so.  They  only 
have  a  right  and  opportunity  to  know  more  than  other  men,  but  many 
fail  from  want  of  capacity,  and  many  more  from  want  of  industry, 
which  is  very  necessary  for  gaining  all  knowledge. 

Are  masons  better  men  than  others? — Some  masons  are  not  so 
virtuous  as  some  other  men ;  but  for  the  most  part,  they  are  better  than 
they  would  be  if  they  were  not  masons. 

Do  masons  love  one  another  mightily,  as  is  said  ? — Yea  verily, 
and  that  can  not  be  otherwise:  for  the  better  men  are  j.he  more  they 
love  one  another. 

"  Our  celebrated  annotator,  says  Hutchinson,  has  taken  no  notice  of 
the  masons  having  the  art  of  working  miracles,  and  foresaying  things  to 
come."  This  circumstance  alone,  renders  it  sufficiently  evident,  that 
Locke  was  not  the  annotator ;  for  such  a  bold  assumption  would  not 
have  escaped  his  observation  and  severe  animadversion.  The  annota- 
tor was  doubtless  fearful  of  involving  the  craft  in  difficulty  by  touching 
upon  this  subject ;  altho  he  might  have  cited  the  mysteries  in  support 
of  the  pretention. 

The  universal  language  of  masons,  so  much  vaunted  of,  extends  no 

*  It  has  been  objected,  that  the  word  chymistry  was  not  in  use  in  the  time  of  Henry 
VI.— Its  appearance,  however,  in  this  document  may  be  accounted  for,  by  supposing 
that  the  Frankford  editor  substituted  it  for  akhymy.—Ed\U 


270  ORIGIN    AND    IILSTORY 

further  than  to  a  few  words,  signs,  and  grips,  by  which  they  can  com- 
municate to  each  other  that  they  are  masons,  and  have  been  initiated 
into  certain  degress.  They  may  also  learn  a  cypher  that  is  given  in 
the  royal  arch,  but  which  not  one  in  a  thousand  takes  the  pains  to 
acquire,  and  if  obtained,  can  be  of  no  masonic  use,  that  is,  to  communi- 
cate any  secrets  of  the  craft,  for  masons  are  prohibited  from  committing 
these  to  writing,  printing,  carving,  or  engraving. 

John  Guiilim. 

In  a  work  entitled  "The  Display  of  Heraldry,"  by  John  Guiilim, 
it  is  stated,  that  the  company  of  masons,  being  otherwise  termed  free- 
masons, of  ancient  standing,  and  good  reckoning,  by  means  of  affable 
arid  kind  meetings,  divers  times  did  frequent  this  mutual  assembly  in 
the  time  of  King  Henry  VI.  in  the  twelfth  year  of  his  reign,  1434. 

Ellas  Ashmole. 

Ashmole,  in  his  diary,  p.  15,  says,  "  I  was  made  a  freemason  at 
Warington  in  Lancarshire,  16th  of  October,  1646. — On  March  the  10th, 
1682,  I  received  a  summon?  to  appear  at  a  lodge,  to  be  held  the  next 
day,  at  masons'  hall,  in  London.  March  1 1th,  I  accordingly  attended, 
where  I  was  the  senior  fellow  among  them,  it  being  nearly  35  years 
since  I  had  been  admitted  into  the  fraternity.  We  all  dined  at  the  half- 
moon  tavern,  where  we  partook  of  a  sumptious  dinner,  at  the  expence 
of  the  new  accepted  mason. 

Lawrie,  in  recording  this  anecdote,  says,  "This  gentleman  was  the 
celebrated  antiquary  who  founded  the  Ashmolean  museum  at  Oxford. 
His  attachment  to  the  fraternity  is  evident  from  his  diligent  inquiries 
into  its  origin  and  history,  and  his  long  and  frequent  attendance  upon 
its  meetings. — See  Diary,  p.  66." 

Robert  Plait,  L.L.D.,  keeper  of  the  Ashmolean  museum,  etc.  says, 
in  his  Natural  History  of  Staffordshire,  (1686)  that  "  They  have  a 
custom  in  Staffordshire  of  admitting  men  into  the  society  of  freemasons  ; 
that  in  the  moorelands  of  thin  country  seems  to  be  of  greater  request  than 
any  where  else,  tho  I-find  the  custom  spread  more  or  less  all  over  the 
nation ;  for  here  I  found  persons  of  the  most  eminent  quality,  that  did 
not  disdain  to  be  of  this-fellowship;  nor  indeed  need  they,  were  it  of 
that  antiquity  and  honor  that  is  pretended  in  a  large  parchment  volume 
they  have  among  them,  containing  the  history  and  rules  of  the  craft  of 
masonry,   w^hich   is   there  deduced  not  only  from  sacred  writ,  but  pro- 


OF    FREEMASONRY.  271 

fane  story,"  etc. — (Freemas.  Poc.  Comp.  p.   192.  Antimas.  Review, 
vol.  2d.  p.  334. 

Neio  Regulations. 

According  to  a  copy  of  the  old  constitutions,  says  Anderson,  a  gene- 
ral assembly  and  feast  was  held,  on  St.  John's  day,  27th  December, 
1663  ;  when  Henry  Jermyn,  earl  of  St.  Albans,  was  elected  grand  mas- 
ter, who  appointed  Sir  John  Denham  his  deputy,  and  Mr.  (afterwards 
Sir)  Christopher  Wren,  and  John  Webb  his  wardens.  At  this  assembly 
the  following  regulations,  among  others,  were  made : 

"  That  no  person  of  what  degree  soever,  he  made  or  accepted  a  free 
mason,  unless  in  ?i  regular  lodge,  whereof  one  to  be  a  master  or  war- 
den in  that  limit  or  division  where  such  lodge  is  kept,  and  another  to 
be  a  craftsman  in  the  trade  of  free  masonry." 

This  regulation  shows  clearly  that  the  society  was  not  confined  to 
opperatives.  It  shows  also,  that  it  was  at  this  time,  in  a  very  disorderly 
condition. 

"  That  for  the  future,  the  fraternity  of  freemasons  shall  be  regulated 
an4  governed  by  one  grand  master,  and  as  many  wardens  as  the 
society  shall  think  fit  to  appoint  at  every  annual  general  assembly.' 

It  appears  by  this,  that  at  the  period  here  spoken  of,  whatever  may 
have  been  the  case  formerly,  the  freemasons  had  no  grand  master,  and 
that  each  lodge  regulated  its  own  affairs. 

"  That  no  person  shall  be  accepted,  unless  he  be  twenty-one  years 
old,  or  more." 

It  is  evident  that  this  regulation  was  an  innovation,  and  that  pre- 
viously apprentices  were  entered  at  the  usual  age  in  which  they  are 
taken  in  other  trades. 

Sir  Christopher  Wren,  says  Anderson,  was  chosen  grand  master, 
in  1698.  He  then  enumerates  the  public  buildings  that  were  erected 
by  freemasons  under  his  superintendance,  and  adds,  "  some  few  years 
after  this  St.  Christopher  neglected  the  office  of  grand  master ;  yet  the 
old  lodge  near  St.  Paul's  and  a  few  others,  continued  their  stated  meet- 
ings." 

Previously  to  this  period,  the  government  "  enacted  the  building  of 
fifty  new  churches  in  the  suburbs  of  London,"  to  supply  the  places  of 
those  consumed,  at  the  great  fire  in  London,  in  1666;  and  Sir  Christo- 
pher Wren,  an  eminent  architect,  was  appointed  one  of  the  commis- 
sioners to  superintend  the  construction  of  these  edifices. 

It  is  highly  probable  that  Wreu  was  at  this  time  master  or  president 


272  ORIGIN    AND    HISTORY 

of  the  company  of  operative  masons  of  London,  and  may  perhaps  have 
been  a  member  of  the  freemasons'  society ;  but  that  the  latter  as  a  body, 
was  employed  to  construct  public  works  is  not  probable.  It  was  not 
acknowledged  by  the  government  as  a  company  of  architects,  and  what- 
ever may  have  been  its  standing  in  the  time  of  the  Druids,  it  was  at 
this  period,  in  little  repute. 

Anderson  gives  the  following  account  of  the  revolution  of  the  order 
which  took  place  at  this  period.  "In  1716,  the  few  lodges  in  London, 
finding  themselves  neglected  by  Sir  Christopher  Wren,  thought  fit  to 
cement  under  di  grand  master  as  the  center  of  unio7i  and  harmony^  It 
here  appears  that  the  order  made  in  1663,  in  regard  to  a  grandmaster, 
had  become  neglected.  These  lodges  were  those  "  that  met,  1,  at  the 
Goose  and  Gridiron  Ale-house,  in  St.  Paul's  church  yard ;  2.  at  the 
Crown  Ale-house,  in  Parker's  lane ;  3.  at  the  Apple-tree  Tavern,  in 
Charles-street,  Covent  Garden ;  4.  at  the  Rummer  and  Grapes  tavern, 
in  Channel  Row,  Westminster. 

"  The  members  of  these  lodges  and  some  old  brothers  met  at  the 
said  Apple-tree,  and  having  put  into  the  chair  the  oldest  master  mason 
they  constituted  themselves  a  grand  lodge,  pro  tempore  in  due  form, 
and  forthwith  revived  the  quarterly  communication  of  the  officers  of 
lodges,  called  the  grand  lodge,  and  resolved  to  hold  the  annual  assem- 
bly and  feast;  and  then  to  choose  a  grand  master  from  among  them- 
selves, till  they  should  have  the  honor  of  a  noble  brother  at  their  head. 

"Accordingly,  on  St.  John  Baptist's  day,  [the  24th  June,  the  sum- 
mer solstice,]  1717,  the  assembly  and  feast  of  the /ree  and  accepted 
masons  was  held  at  the  aforesaid  Goose  and  Gridiron  Ale-house." 

The  freemasons  at  this  time,  seem  to  have  rummaged  their  old 
records,  and  found  out  what  the  society  formerly  was,  and  come  to  a 
determination  to  revive  old  Druidical,  Hiram  masonry. 

At  this  assembly,  "Mr.  Anthony  Sayre,  gentleman,  was  elected 
grand  master  of  masons,  who  being  forthwith  invested  with  the  badges 
of  office  and  power,  and  installed,  was  duly  congratulated  by  the  assem- 
bly, who  payed  him  the  homage.  Capt.  Joseph  Elliot,  and  Mr.  Jacob 
Lamball,  carpenter,  were  appointed  grand  wardens." 

The  brethren  did  not  wait  long  before  a  noble  brother  condescended 
to  be  placed  at  their  head;  for  on  the  24th  of  June,  1721,  the  duke  of 
Montague  was  elected  and  accepted  the  office  of  grand  master  of  masons. 
From  that  time  to  the  present,  a  nobleman  or  a  prince  has  constantly 
presided  over  the  lodges  of  England.  The  society  soon  became  fash- 
ionable.    The  brilliant  processions  and  luxurious  feasts  now  got  up, 


OF    FREEMASONUV.        ^  273 

which  had  for  a  long  time  been  neglected,  added  to  the  sublime  myste- 
ries and  secrets  held  out  to  the  initialed,  allured  the  young,  the  gay, 
and  the  inquisitive,  to  the  standard  of  the  order,  which  now  assumed 
such  an  imposing  appearance  as  caused  it  to  spread,  with  astonishing 
rapidity,  over  Europe,  Asia,  and  America.  The  year  1717  forms  and 
important  epoch  in  the  history  of  freemasonry.  It  had  till  then  been 
for  some  centuries,  almost  exclusively,  in  the  hands  of  mere  craftsmen 
who  knew  not  what  to  make  of  it.  Druidism  being  extinct,  the  reli- 
gious cement  which  had  bound  them  together,  was  dissolved  ;  and  the 
incorporated  company  of  masons,  no  doubt,  rendered  its  combination 
in  respect  to  that  profession  inefficient. 

As  operative  masons,  the  incorporated  company  would  naturally 
take  the  lead  of  a  society  not  sanctioned  by  the  laws,  and  the  utility  of 
whose  mystic  rites  could  not  be  estimated,  after  the  religion  which 
gave  them  birth,  was  no  longer  known. 

Dermott  names  eight  persons,  among  whom  is  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Desaguliers,  who  was  elected  grand  master  in  1719,  as  the  authors  of 
this  remarkable  revolution.  At  this  revival,  the  ostensible  ground 
upon  which  the  society  was  originally  founded,  the  craft  of  masonry,  as 
though  in  derision  of  the  pretention,  was  utterly  abandoned,  and  no 
longer  considered  as  a  recommendation  for  admission  into  the  order. 

The  society,  however,  keeps  up  a  show  of  respect  to  the  craft  by 
marching  in  processions,  to  lay  the  corner  stone  of  masonic  halls,  and 
other  public  edifices.  This,  was  an  ancient  religious  custom,  having 
no  reference  to  the  art  of  building. 

Incorporation  of  Masom  in  London. 

Masons  No.  30. — By  the  arms  granted  this  society  by  William 
Hanckestow,  Clarencieux-king  at  arms,*  in  the  year  1477,  it  appears 
to  be  of  considerable  antiquity;  however,  it  was  only  incorporated  by 
Letters  Patent  of  the  29th,  of  Charles  2d,  Sept.  17,  anno  1677,  by  the 
name  of  the  master,  wardens,  assistants  and  commonalty  of  the  com- 
pany of  masons  of  the  city  of  London. 

"  They  consist  of  a  master,  two  wardens,  twenty-two  assistants,  and 
seventy  livery  men,  whose  fine  of  admission  is  five  pounds.  They 
have  a  small,  but  convenient  hall  in  Mason-alley,  Basin g-hall  street. 

Their  armorial  ensigns  are  azure  on  a  chevron  between  three  cas- 

*  Kings  at  arms,  are  officers  of  great  antiquity,  and  anciently  of  great  authority  ; 
they  direct  the  heralds,  preside  at  their  chapters,  and  have  the  jurisdiction  of  armory. 
There  are  three  in  number,  Garter,  Norroy,  and  Clarencieux.    Bailey. 

35 


274 


ORIGIN    AND    HISTORY  OF  FREEMASONRY. 


ties  argent,  a  pair  of  compasses  somewhat  extended  of  the  first.  Crest 
a  castle  of  the  second." — (Maitland's  History  of  London,  from  its  founr 
dation  to  1756.) 


This  incorporation  of  course  included  the  operatives  of  the  freema- 
sons, who  in  their  society  make  use  of  the  same  armorial  bearings, 
which  it  is  very  probable,  originally  belonged  to  them. 

To  what  period  the  pagan  rites,  under  the  name  of  Druidism,  were 
sustained  in  different  parts  of  Europe,  is  uncertain :  but  that  they  were 
not  concealed,  under  the  title  of  freemasonry,  in  any  other  quarter  than 
Britain,  is  evident  from  the  charters  of  all  lodges  on  the  continent's 
emanating  from  either  the  grand  lodge  of  England  or  that  of  Scotland. 
The  laiter,  however,  was  not  instituted  till  1736. 

The  grand  lodge  of  Ireland  was  formed  in  1730.  And  in  1733,  a 
charter  for  a  lodge  was  obtained  for  Boston.  So,  it  is  seen,  that  Amer- 
ica was  not  far  behind  in  availing  itself  of  the  earliest  opportunity  to 
become  a  partaker  in  the  advantages  resulting  from  a  knowledge  of 
this  wonderful  secret 

To  suppose,  as  some  writers  have  done,'that  the  freemasons'  society 
first  sprang  up  in  1717 ;  that  such  a  mass  of  curious  ceremonies,  bear- 
ing on  their  very  front  the  most  palpable  marks  of  remote  antiquity,  was 
then  for  the  first  time  concocted  by  doctors  of  divinity  and  other  learned 
men,  is  to  my  mind  preposterous. 

Freemasonry  is  based  on  Sabeism,  the  worship  of  the  stars ;  but,  as 
before  observed,  its  original  intention  has  long  since  been  lost  sight  of 
and  abandoned.  Modern  masons  not  only  continue  the  ceremonies  of 
ancient  masonry,  consisting  of  seven  degrees,  which  relate  exclusively 
to  pagan  rites,  but  have  added  thereto  about  fifty  others.  These  are 
founded  partly  upon  pagan  mysteries,  and  partly  upon  Jewish  and 
Christian  doctrines  ;  forming  altogether  an  incoherent  medley  of  oppo- 
site principles.  The  partisans,  however,  of  opposing  sects  seem  to  be 
reconciled  to  it,  not  stopping  to  inquire  into  the  meaning  of  the  symbols, 
or  willing  to  be  deceived  by  the  false  explication  given  of  them,  con- 
gregate together  in  great  harmony.  And,  although  the  ceremonies 
relate  wholly  to  religion,  either  Pagan,  Jewish,  or  Christian,  discus- 
sion on  the  subject  is  absolutely  prohibited  in  the  lodge. 


CHATER  VII. 

ANALYSIS    OF    FREEMASONRY.* 

Introductixm. 

I  shall  now  proceed  to  analyse  Freemasonry.  And  as  I  conceive 
5t  to  be  no  other  than  the  forms  and  ceremonies  of  the  ancient  Pagan 
religion ;  that  is,  Sabeism  or  the  worship  of  the  stars,  the  following 
remarks  of  Volney,  on  the  natural  causes  which  led  to  this  species  of 
worship,  will  not  be  amiss : 

"The  unanimous  testimony  of  all  ancient  monuments,  presents  us 
a  methodical  and  complicated  system,  that  of  the  worship  of  all  the  stars, 
adored  sometimes  in  their  proper  forms,  sometimes  under  figurative 
emblems  and  symbols  •  and  this  worship  was  the  effect  of  the  know- 
ledge men  had  acquired  in  physics,  and  was  derived  immediately  from 
the  first  causes  of  the  social  state,  that  is,  from  the  necessities  and  arts 
of  the  first  degree  which  are  among  the  elements  of  society. 

"  Indeed,  as  soon  as  men  began  to  unite  in  society,  it  became' neces- 
sary for  them  to  multiply  the  means  of  subsistence,  and  consequently  to 
attend  to  agriculture;  agriculture,  to  be  carried  on  with  success, 
requires  the  observation  and  knowledge  of  the  heavens.  It  was  neces- 
sary to  know  the  periodical  return  of  the  same  operations  of  nature,  and 
the  same  phenomena  in  the  skies;  indeed,  to  go  so  far  as  to  ascertain 
the  duration  and  succession  of  the  seasons  and  the  months  of  the  year. 
It  was  indispensable  to  know  in  the  first  place,  the  course  of  the  sun, 
who,  in  his  zodiacal  revolutions,  shows  himself  the  first  and  supreme 
-agent  of  the  whole  creation  ;  then,  of  the  moon,  who,  by  her  phases  and 
periods,  regulates  and  distributes  time;  then  of  the  stars,  and  even 
planets,  which  by  their  appearance  and  disappearance  on  the  horizon 
and  nocturnal  hemisphere,  marked  the  minutest  divisions;  finally,  it 
was  necessary  to  form  a  whole  system  of  astronomy,  or  a  calendar ;  and 
from  these  works  there  naturally  followed  a  new  manner  of  considering 
these  predominant  and  governing  powers.     Having  observed  that  the 

*  The  author  of  "  the  Master  Key  to  the  door  of  Freemasonry,"  has  judiciously 
remarked,  "  that  the  word/rec  was  added  to  masonry  by  the  society,  because  none  but 
xYiefreehorn  were  admitted  into  it."  And  for  a  very  obvious  reason,  for  there  conld  be  no 
safety  in  confiding  secrets  to  slaves,  which  might  at  any  time  be  extorted  from  them  by 
their  masters.  Besides,  this  was  in  conformity  with  the  rule  established  in  the  Eg3rp- 
tian  mysteries. 


276  ANALYSIS    OF 

productions  of  the  earth  had  a  regular  and  constant  relation  with  the 
heavenly  bodies;  that  the  rise,  growth,  and  decline  of  each  plant  kept 
pace  with  the  appearance,  elevation,  and  declination  of  the  same  star» 
or  group  of  stars;  in  short,  that  the  languor  or  activity  of  vegetation 
seemed  to  depend  on  celestial  influences,  men  drew  from  thence  an  idea 
of  action,  of  power  in  those  beings,  superior  to  earthly  bodies  ;  and  the 
stars  dispensing  plenty  or  scarcity,  became  powers,  genii,  gods,  authors 
of  good  and  evil. 

"As  the  state  of  society  had  already  introduced  a  regular  hierarchy 
of  ranks,  employments  and  conditions,  men,  continuing  to  reason  by 
comparison,  carried  their  new  notions  into  their  theology,  and  formed 
a  complicated  system  of  gradual  divinities,  in  which  the  sim,  as  first 
god,  was  a  military  chief,  a  political  king ;  the  moon  was  his  wife,  and 
queen ;  the  planets  were  servants,  bearers  of  commands,  messengers ;  and 
the  multitude  of  stars  were  a  nation,  an  army  of  heroes,  genii  whose 
office  was  to  govern  the  world  under  the  orders  of  their  chiefs;  and  all 
the  individuals  had  names,  functions,  attributes  drawn  from  their  rela- 
tions and  influences  ;*  and  even  sexes,  from  the  gender  of  their  appel- 
lations.! 

"  If  it  be  asked  to  what  people  this  system  is  to  be  attributed,  we 
shall  answer  that  the  same  monuments,  supported  by  unanimous  tradi- 
tions, attribute  it  to  the  first  tribes  of  Egypt;  and  when  reason  finds  in 
that  country  all  the  circumstances  which  could  lead  to  such  a  system ; 
when  it  fincfs  there  a  zone  of  sky,  bordering  on  the  tropic,  equally  free 
from  the  rains  of  the  equator  and  the  fogs  of  the  north;  when  it  finds 
there  a  central  point  of  the  sphere  of  the  ancients,  a  salubrious  climate, 
a  great,  but  manageable  river,  a  soil  fertile  without  labor  or  art, 
And  plceed  between  two  seas  which  communicate  with  the  richest  coun- 
tries it  conceives  that  the  inhabitant  of  the  Nile,  addicted  to  agriculture 
irom  the  nature  of  his  soil,  to  geometry  from  the  annual  necessity  of 
measuring  his  lands,  to  commerce  from  the  facility  of  communications, 
to  astronomy  from  the  state  of  his  sky  always  open  to  observation,  must 
have  been  the  first  to  pass  from  the  savage  to  the  social  state,  and  con- 

♦  A  pretty  fair  description  of  a  masonic  lodge,  with  the  worshipful  master  at  the 
head,  personifying  the  sun,  and  taking  his  place  in  the  east ;  surrounded  by  the  senior 
warden,  who  acts  the  part  of  the  moon  ;  the  junior  warden,  who  takes  ihat  of  Orion, 
and  the  other  subordinate  officers  and  privates,  all  under  the  command  of  their  chief, 
the  worshipful  master.— Edit. 

t  According  as  the  gender  of  the  object  was  in  the  language  of  the  nation  masculine 
or  feminine,  the  divinity  who  bore  its  name  was  male  or  female.  Thus  the  Capadocians 
cailed  the  moon  god,  and  the  sun  goddess ;  a  circumstance  which  gives  to  the  same 
beings  a  perpetual  variety  in  ancient  mythology. 


FREEMASONRY.  277 

sequently  to  attain  the  physical  and  moral  sciences  necessary  to  civil- 
ized life. 

"  It  was  then  on  the  borders  of  the  upper  Nile  among  a  black  race 
of  men,  that  was  organized  the  complicated  system  of  the  worship  of 
the  stars  considered  in  relation  to  the  productions  of  the  earth  and  the 
labors  of  agriculture ;  and  this  first  worship,  characterized  by  their  ado- 
ration under  their  own  forms  and  natural  attributes,  was  a  simple  pro- 
ceeding of  the  human  mind;  but  in  a  short  time,  the  multiplicity  of  the 
objects  of  their  relations,  and  their  reciprocal  influence,  having  compli- 
cated the  ideas,  and  the  signs  that  represented  them,  there  followed  a 
confusion  as  singular  in  its  cause,  as  pernicious  in  its  eflTects." 

It  has  been  sufficiently  made  to  appear,  it  is  believed,  that  the  Soci- 
ety of  Freemasons,  has  existed  in  England  for  upwards  of  six  hundred 
years.  How  far  its  principles  and  objects-  were  generally  understood 
by  its  members  in  the  early  stage  of  its  establishment,  is  unknown. 
But,  judging  from  the  enigmatical  manner  in  which  its  ritual,  as  handed 
down  to  us,  is  explained,  we  may  conclude  that  the  brethren,  particu- 
larly the  craftsmen  of  the  three  first  degrees,  were  kept  as  closely  hoodr 
winked  in  respect  to  its  true  import,  after,  as  they  were  before  their 
initiation.  The  personal  safety  of  its  founders  required  this  course. 
Hence  the  awful  oaths  exacted  of  them  to  keep  secret  the  rites  and  cere- 
monies in  which  they  were  permitted  to  participate. 

These  ceremonies  were  manufactured  for  the  occasion;  and  were 
so  obscurely  framed  as  to  be  rendered  incomprehensible  to  all  those  not 
intrusted  with  the  secret  object  of  the  institution.  Besides  artifice  was 
made  use  of  to  mislead  the  brethren,  answers  to  questions  propounded 
being  often  given  that  have  no  relation  to  their  true  interpretation.  In 
short,  freemasonry  is  allegorical  throughout,  and  is  an  imitation  of  the 
astronomical  worship  of  the  Egyptians,  Hiram  being  substituted  for 
Osiris.  There  are  occasional  departures  from  the  original,  to  accom- 
modate it  to  the  craft  or  trade  of  masonry,  which,  as  before  observed,  is 
a  mere  finesse  to  cover  the  real  design.  There,  otherwise,  would  have 
been  no  necessity  for  dividing  the  subject  matter  of  the  three  first 
degrees ;  which  may  be  considered  as  substituted  for  the  ceremonies 
and  secrets  of  the  lesser  mysteries ;  and  that  of  the  royal  arch  and  its 
appendages,  for  those  of  the  greater.  It  may,  however,  have  been  the 
policy  of  the  Druids,  to  deal  out  their  mysteries  in  small  parcels,  to 
try  the  good  faith  of  their  pupils  by  degrees,  and  to  stop  short,  or  pro- 
ceed with  them  accordingly. 

No  account  of  the  secret  practices  of  masonry,  had  been  given  to 


278  ANALYLIS    OF 

the  public,  till  after  its  revival  in  1717.  The  first  writers  who  under- 
took to  expose  them,  were  Prichard,  in  1730;  Master  Key  to  the  door 
of  Freemasonry,  in  1768 ;  and  Jachin  and  Boaz,  in  1776.  As  material 
alterations  in  the  ritual  have  been  made  since  the  report  of  Prichard, 
whatever  may  be  said  of  "old  land  marks,"  in  making  this  Analysis,  I 
shall  rely  chiefly  upon  him  and  the  two  following  expositions  for  an 
explanation  of  the  three  first  degrees,  which  was  the  extent  of  their 
labors,  aUhough  the  author  of  Master  Key,  signs  himself  "  A  member 
of  Royal  Arch." 

On  the  revival  of  the  institution,  the  surviving  heirs  of  the  mystery, 
no  doubt,  gave  to  the  society  as  far  as  recollected,  the  very  words  and 
ceremonies  as  delivered  to  them ;  and  which  Prichard  testifies  under 
oath,  to  be  truely  reported  by  him. 

This  expose  particularly  indicates  the  order  to  be  of  ancient  date. 
After  perusing  it,  it  would  seem  impossible  to  believe  that  men  of  lear- 
ning, talents,  and  standing  in  society,  would,  in  the  eighteenth  century  of 
the  Christian  era,  seriously  form  de  novo  such  a  medley,  void  of  the  least 
claim  to  wit  or  rationality,  except  in  reference  to  the  scientific  worship  of 
the  heavenly  bodies  and  other  physical  powers  of  nature.  According  to 
Prichard,  many  of  the  questions  and  answers,  are  in  verse,  which  suf- 
ficiently indicate  their  Druidical  formation ;  the  sense  of  which,  how- 
ever, has  been  changed  to  prose,  thereby  rendering  the  dialogue  more 
conformable  to  the  present  taste,  and  at  the  same  time  divesting  it  of  its 
Druidical  dress. 

In  adapting  this  parody  of  the  mysteries  to  the  uninformed  state  of 
the  initiated  to  the  three  first  degrees  of  masonry,  aUhough  a  trinity  is 
acknowledged  under  the  title  o^  wisdom,  strength  and  beauty,  still  the 
true  first  person  is  kept  out  of  view. 

"  The  maintainers  of  the  Egyptian  philosophy  held,  that  the 
Supreme  Being,  the  infinitely  perfect  and  happy,  was  not  the  creator  of 
the  world,  nor  the  alone  independent  Being.  The  Supreme  Being, 
who  resides  in  the  immensity  of  space,  which  they  call  peteroma  or 
fullness,  produced  from  himself,  say  they,  other  immortal  and  spiritual 
natures,  styled  by  them  ^ons,  who  filled  the  residence  of  the  Deity 
with  beings  similar  to  themselves."— (Key  to  the  New  Testament. — 
Hutchinson,  p.  36.) 

This  Divinity  is  spoken  of  by  Jamblichus,  under  the  name  of  Emeph 
or  Kneph.  He  says,  that  "  This  God  is  an  intellect,  itself  intellectu- 
ally perceiving  itself,  and  converting  intellections  to  itself;  and  is  to 
be  worshipped  through  silence  alone." — (Taylor's  Trans.  Jam.  p.  302.) 


FREEMASONRY.  279* 

Altho  this  god  was  secretly  acknowledged  by  the  philosophers  and 
learned  priests  of  Egypt,  he  was  utterly  unknown  to  the  common  peo- 
ple; and  this  is  supposed  to  be  the  case  with  the  mason  of  the  three 
first  degrees.  But  when  he  arrives  at  the  holy  royal  arch,  the  discovery 
is  made  known  to  him.  This  is  the  awful  Divinity,  on  coming  into 
whose  presence,  the  shocking  exhibitions  of  thunder,  lightning,  etc. 
produce  such  excessive  trepidation  and  fear.  This  is  the  Wisdom, 
the  first  person  of  the  Egyptian  trinity ;  Osiris  the  sun,  the  Strength^ 
the  Demiurgus  or  supposed  maker  of  the  world,  is  the  second  person  j 
and  Isis  the  moon,  the  Beauty  of  masonry,  is  the  third.  But  as  the 
first  person  is  not  revealed  to  the  initiates  of  the  minor  degress,  the 
trinity  for  these  grades  is  made  up  wholly  of  visible,  physical  powers^ 
adapted  to  the  gross  conceptions  of  theuninlightened ;  viz.  Osiris,  Isis, 
and  Orus ;  that  is  the  sun,  moon,  and  Orion. 

To  prevent  that  satiety  arising  from  the  perusal  of  long  rituals,  par- 
ticularly those  in  which  the  reader  has  no  faith,  I  shall  confine  myself 
to  as  few  items  in  that  respect,  as  is  consistent  with  the  necessary 
developement  of  the  subject.  This  analysis  is  not  intended  as  a  regular 
expose  of  the  ceremonies  of  masonry. 

After  these  preliminary  remarks,  I  commence  with  the 

•  Manner^  of  Opening  a  Lodge  \ 

and  preparing  a  candidate  for  initiation,  taken  from  Jachin  and  Boaz. 

Masonry  throughout  is  in  the  catechetical  form,  in  the  same  manner 
as  instruction  is  given  to  novices  in  all  other  religions.  The  master, 
before  opening  the  lodge,  demands  of  the  officers  their  various  stations 
and  duties  (which  will  appear  in  what  are  called  lectures  further  on,) 
Ending  with  those  of  the  master ;  whose  station  is  in  the  east,  because 
the  sun  rises  in  the  east  to  open  the  day,  so  the  master  stands  in  the  east 
to  open  his  lodge,  and  set  the  men  to  work. 

After  the  conclusion  of  this  ceremony,  the  master  puts  on  his  hat, 
and  declares  the  lodge  to  be  opened,  in  the  name  of  holy  St.  John,  for- 
bidding all  cursing,  swearing,  whispering,  and  all  profane  discourse 
whatever.  He  then  gives  three  knocks  upon  the  table,  and  puts  on  his 
hat,  the  brethren  being  uncovered.  Provided  a  candidate  has  received 
the  approval  of  the  lodge  for  admittance,  the  master  asks,  if  the  gentle- 
man proposed  last  lodge-night  is  ready  to  be  made ;  and  on  being 
answered  in  the  affimative,  he  orders  the  wardens  to  go  out  and  pre- 
pare the  person,  who  is  generally  waiting  in  a  room  at  some  distance 
from  the  lodge  room  by  himself,  being  left  there  by  his  friend  who  pro- 


280  ANALYSIS    OF 

posed  him.  He  is  conducted  into  another  room,  which  is  totally  dark  ; 
and  then  asked,  whether  he  is  conscious  of  having  the  vocation  neces- 
sary to  be  received?  On  answering-  yes,  he  is  asked  his  name,  sur- 
name, and  profession.  When  he  has  answered  these  questions,  Avhat- 
ever  he  has  about  him  made  of  metal  is  taken  away,  as  buckles,  buttons, 
rings,  etc.  and  even  the  money  in  his  pocket.  Then  they  uncover  his 
right  knee  and  put  his  left  foot  with  his  shoe  on  into  a  slipper,  (this  is 
not  practised  in  every  lodge,  some  only  slipping  the  heel  of  the  shoe 
down ;)  hoodwink  him  with  a  handkerchief,  and  leave  him  to  his 
reflection  for  about  half  an  hour.  The  chamber  is  also  guarded  within 
and  without  by  some  of  the  brethren  who  have  drawn  swords  in  their 
hands.  The  person  who  proposed  the  candidate  stays  in  the  room  with 
him ;  but  they  are  not  permitted  to  converse  together. 

During  this  silence,  and  while  the  candidate  is  preparing,  the 
brethren  in  the  lodge  are  putting  every  thing  in  order  for  his  recep- 
tion there ;  such  as  drawing  the  annexed  figure  [omitted]  on  the  floor 
at  the  upper  part  of  the  room ;  which  is  generally  done  with  chalk 
and  charcoal  intermixed.  It  is  drawn  east  and  west.  The  Master 
stands  in  the  east,  with  the  square  hanging  at  his  breast,  the  holy  bible 
opened  at  the  gospel  of  St.  John,  and  three  lighted  tapers  are  placed  in 
the  form  of  a  triangle  in  the  midst  of  the  drawing  on  the  floor. 

The  proposer  then  goes  and  knocks  three  times  at  the  door  of  the 
apartment,  in  which  the  ceremony  is  to  be  performed.  The  Master 
answers  within  by  three  strokes  with  the  hammer,  and  the  Junior 
warden  asks,  who  comes  there  ?  The  candidate  answers  (after 
another  who  prompts  him)  "  One  who  begs  to  receive  part  of  the  bene- 
fit of  this  Right  Worshipful  Lodge,  dedicated  to  St.  John,  as  many 
brothers  and  fellows  have  done  before  me."  The  doors  are  then 
opened,  and  the  senior  and  junior  wardens,  or  their  Assistants, 
receive  him,  one  on  the  right,  and  the  other  on  the  left,  and  conduct 
him  blind-folded  three  times  round  the  drawing  on  the  floor,  and  bring 
him  up  to  the  foot  of  it,  with  his  face  to  the  master,  the  brethren 
ranging  themselves  on  each  side,  and  making  a  confused  noise,  by 
striking  on  the  attributes  of  the  order,  which  they  carry  in  their  hands.* 

In  some  lodges  the  candidates  are  led  nine  times  round;  but  as 
this  is  very  tiresome  to  the  person  who  is  to  undergo  the  operation,  his 
patience  being  pretty  well  tried  by  being  blinded  so  long  beforehand, 
it  is  very  justly  omitted. 

*  This  custom  is  not  observed  in  all  Lodges. 


FREEMASONRY.  281 

Apprenticed  Degree. 

I  commence  this  degree  with  Prichard's  report,  called  *'  Mfisoniy 
Dissected,"  as  inserted  in  the  Antimasonic  Review;  which  Mr.  Ward, 
the  Editor,  informs  me,  he  printed  from  a  manuscript  copy.  It  is  evi- 
dently an  abridgment  of  the  original :  for  it  opens  with  the  examina- 
tion of  an  Apprentice  previously  initiated.  It  contains,  however, 
enough  for  the  present  purpose. — An  attestation  to  the  truth  of  the 
statement  is  prefixed  to  the  document,  as  follows  : 

"  Samuel  Prichard  maketh  oath,  that  the  copy  hereunto  annexed  is 
a  true  and  genuine  copy  in  every  particular.  Jur.  13  Die  Oct.  1730 
Coram  me  R.  Hopkins." 

I  shall  not  confine  myself  to  any  one  of  the  books  on  the  subject  in 
regular  order,  but  take  the  questions  and  answers,  or  the  purport  of 
them,  from  either  as  may  best  suit  my  purpose. 

Question.  From  whence  came  you  1  Answer.  From  the  Holy 
Lodge  of  St.  John,  [Why  the  Druids  gave  this  name  to  the  lodge 
will  be  explained  in  the  sequel.]  What  recommendations  brought  you 
from  thence  ? — The  recommendation  which  I  brought  from  the  right 
worshipful  brothers  and  fellows  of  the  right  worshipful  and  holy  lodge 
of  St.  John ;  from  whence  I  came,  and  greet  you  thrice  heartily  well. 

What  do  you  come  here  to  do  ? — 

Not  to  do  my  own  proper  will, 
But  to  subdue  my  passions  still; 
The  rules  of  masonry  in  hand  to  take, 
'  And  daily  progress  therein  to  make. 

Are  you  a  mason? — I  am  so  taken  and  accepted  to  be  'mong broth- 
ers and  fellows.  Where  were  you  made  a  mason  ? — In  a  just  and 
perfect  lodge.  What  makes  a  lodge? — Five. — Masons  are  deceived 
by  the  reason  given  for  this  number's  making  a  lodge.  "  The  ancient 
theology  (as  before  observed)  being  nothing  more  than  a  system  of 
physics,  a  picture  of  the  operations  of  nature,  wrapped  up  in  myste- 
rious allegories  and  enigmatical  symbols,"  a  solution  of  the  enigma 
must  be  sought  for  from  that  source. 

"  The  Egyptians  represent  the  world  by  the  number  j'Xi^e,  being  that 
of  the  elements,  which,  says  Diodorus,  are  earth,  water,  air,  fire  and 
ether  or  spiritus  (they  are  the  same  amongst  the  Indians  ;)  and  accord- 
ing to  the  mystics,  in  Macrobius,  they  are  the  supreme  God  or  primum 
mobile,  the  intelligence  or  meus  born  of  him,  the  soul  of  the  world 
which  proceeds  from  him,  the  celestial  spheres  and  all  things  terres- 

86 


282  ANALYSIS  or  freemasonry: 

trial.     Hence,  adds  Plutarch,  the  analogy  between  the  Greek  pente, 
five,  and  Pan,  all."     (See  Ruins,  p.  236.) 

What  makes  a  just  and  perfect  Lodge  ?  Seven. — This  is  in  conse- 
quence of  its  being  formed  by  the  union  of  three  and  four\  which, 
as  before  observed,  renders  this  number  superlatively  perfect. 

Masonry  teaches  that  the  above  numbers  are  required  to  make  a 
lodge,  because  man  has  five  senses,  and  there  are  seven  liberal  scien- 
ces ;  and  much  ridiculous  parade  is  made  in  the  definition  of  these 
sciences ;  which  are  thus  arranged  : — Grammar,  rhetoric,  logic,  arith- 
metic, geometry,  music,  and  astronomy.  What  doth  geometry  teach  1 — 
The  art  of  measuring  whereby  the  Egyptians  found  out  their  own 
land,  or  the  same  quantity  which  they  had  before  the  overflowing  of 
the  Nile. — How  were  you  prepared  to  be  made  a  mason  ? — I  was 
neither  naked  nor  clothed,  barefoot  nor  shod;  deprived  of  all  metal; 
hoodwinked,  with  a  cable-tow  about  my  neck,  when  I  was  led  to  the 
door  of  the  lodge,  in  a  halting  moving  posture. — This  preparation,  as 
before  noticed,  is  in  conformity  to  the  ancient  usage  in  the  mysteries : 
it  is  a  scenical  representation  of  the  forlorn  condition  of  man  in  a  state 
of  nature.  The  rope  about  the  neck  of  the  candidate,  like  the  chai7i 
required  by  the  Druids  to  be  carried  by  their  followers  in  the  perform- 
ance of  their  sacred  rites,  was,  as  before  stated,  in  testimony  of  his 
submission  to  the  will  of  God.     [See  Mayo's  Myth.  v.  2d.  p.  220. 

How  got  you  admittance? — By  three  great  knocks. — Who  received 
you  ? — A  junior  warden. — How  did  he  dispose  of  you  ? — He  carried 
me  up  to  the  northeast  part  of  the  lodge,  and  brought  me  back  again 
to  the  west,  and  delivered  me  to  the  senior  warden.  (Why  the  candi- 
date begins  his  labors  at  the  northeast  part  of  the  lodge  has  already 
been  explained.) 

Where  did  our  ancient  brethren  meet,  before  lodges  were  erected  ? — 
Upon  holy  ground,  or  the  highest  hill  or  lowest  vale,  or  in  the  vale 
of  Jehoshaphat,  or  any  other  secret  place ;  the  better  to  guard  against 
cowans*  and  enemies,  either  ascending  or  descending,  that  the  brethren 
might  have  timely  notice  of  their  approach  to  prevent  being  surprised. 
These  ancient  brethren  were  Druids  ;  and  the  places  mentioned  are 
such  as  they  used  to  assemble  at,  before  the  edict  of  Canute  entirely 


*  Cowan  seems  to  be  a  corraption  of  Covin,  which  the  author  of  The  Secret  Disci- 
pline, &c.  noticed  above,  substitutes  for  it.  This  word  is  thus  defined  by  Webster : — 
'Covin  {fkvi.  Arabic — to  defraud.)  More  probably  this  word  belongs  to  some  verb  in 
Gb.  signi^ing  to  conceal,  or  to  agree.  In  Norm.  Fr.  covyne  is  a  secret  place  or 
meeting." 


apprentice's  degree.  283 

prohibited  their  public  meetings.  In  consequence  of  which  Druidism 
was  changed  into  freemasonry,  and  lodges  were  erected.  It  cannot  be 
shown,  that  a  lodge  of  masons  ever  held  a  meeting  for  the  performance 
of  their  mystic  rites,  except  in  a  close  room,  properly  tiled.  The 
groves  and  other  places  where  the  Druids  assembled  for  worship, 
were  consecrated  to  some  divinity,  and  considered  holy  ground. — The 
vale  of  Jehoshaphat  is  here  introduced  as  a  mere  juggle.  It  is  a 
valley  near  Jerusalem,  where,  or  in  Jerusalem  itself,  a  lodge  of  free- 
masons never  held  a  meeting.  The  following  extract  from  Holwell's 
My thol.  Diet,  will  show  the  reasons  given  by  the  ancients  for  worship- 
ing the  gods  upon  high  hills  or  mountains. 

High  Places. 

Many  of  old  worshiped  upon  hills,  and  on  th«  tops  of  high  moun- 
tains ;  imagining  that  they  thereby  obtained  a  nearer  communication 
with  heaven.  Strabo  says  (I.  15.)  that  the  Persians  always  performed 
their  worship  upon  hills.  (Some  nations  instead  of  an  image  wor- 
shiped the  hill  as  the  deity.  Max.  Tyr.  Dissert.  8.  v.  Appian.  de 
bello  Mithridatico.)  In  Japan  most  of  their  temples  at  this  day  are 
upon  eminences;  and  often  upon  the  ascent  of  high  mountains:  com- 
manding fine  views,  with  groves  and  rivulets  of  clear  water ;  for  they 
say,  that  the  gods  are  extremely  delighted  with  such  high  and  pleasant 
spots.  (Kaempfer's  Japan,  v.  2.  b.  5.)  This  practice  in  early  times 
was  almost  universal ;  and  every  mountain  was  esteemed  holy.  The 
people,  who  prosecuted  this  method  of  worship,  enjoyed  a  soothing 
infatuation,  which  flattered  the  gloom  of  superstition.  The  eminences 
to  which  they  retired  were  lonely,  and  silent ;  and  seemed  to  be  hap- 
pily circumstanced  for  contemplation  and  prayer.  They,  who  fre- 
quented them,  were  raised  above  the  lower  world;  and  fancied  that 
they  were  brought  into  the  vicinity  of  the  powers  of  the  air,  and  of  the 
deity  who  resided  in  the  higher  regions.  But  the  chief  excellence  for 
which  they  were  frequented,  was  the  Omphi,  interpreted  Theia  cledon, 
vox  divina,  being  a  particular  revelation  from  heaven.  In  short,  they 
were  looked  upon  as  the  peculiar  places  where  God  delivered  his 
oracles. 

Many  times  when  a  reformation  among  the  Jews  was  introduced  by 
some  of  the  wiser  and  better  princes,  it  is  still  lamented  by  the  sacred 
writer  (1  Kings  xxii.)  that  the  high  places  were  not  taken  moay  ;  the 
people  still  offered,  and  burnt  incense  on  the  high  places. 

The  lodge  is  described  as  extending  in  length  from  east  to  west;  in 


384  ANALYSIS    OF    FREEMASONRY: 

breadth  from  north  to  south  ;  as  high  as  the  heavens  ;  as  deep  as  from 
the  surface  to  the  center;  and  supported  by  three  large  columns  or 
pillars,  named  Wisdom,  Strength,  and  Beauty. 

•'  Our  institution  is  ,said  to  be  supported  by  wisdom,  strength,  and 
beauty ;  because  it  is  necessary  that  there  should  be  wisdom  to  contrive, 
strength  to  support,  and  beauty  to  adorn,  all  great  and  important  under- 
takings. Its  dimensions  are  unlimited,  and  its  covering  no  less  than 
the  canopy  of  heaven.  To  this  object  the  mason's  mind  is  continually 
directed,  and  thither  he  hopes  at  last  to  arrive,  by  the  aid  of  the  theolo- 
gical ladder,  which  Jacob,  i7L  his  vision,  saw  ascending  from  earth  to 
heaven ;  the  three  principal  rounds  of  which  are  denominated  faitk, 
hope,  and  charityJ^     (Webb.) 

It  is  evident  from  the  foregoing,  that  a  masonic  lodge  is  supposed 
to  represent  the  world ;  upon  which  plan  the  ancient  pagan  temples 
were  formed.  The  flooring  of  the  lodge  is  intended  to  resemble  the 
face  of  the  earth,  and  the  principal  ceremonies  performed  in  it,  are  an 
imitation  of  the  movements  of  the  heavenly  bodies,  particularly  of  that 
great  luminary  the  Sun,  the  god  of  Egypt. 

The  Rev.  R,  Taylor,  in  his  Lecture  on  masonry,  very  ingeniously 
solves  the  enigma  of  the  three  principal  rounds  of  the  aforesaid  theolo- 
gical, or  rather  astronomical  ladder,  thus : 

■<''*'•  Faith  is  the  Genius  of  Spring;  Hope  of  Summer;  and  Charity 
'  of  Autumn. — Faith,  in  Spring,  because  faith  and  works  must  always 
come  together. — Hope,  of  Summer,  because  from  that  point,  the  sun 
looks  vertically  down  upon  the  seeds  which  have  been  committed  in 
faith  to  the  fertilizing  womb  of  the  earth. — Charity,  of  autumn,  because 
then  the  sun  empties  his  cornucopia  into  our  desiring  laps. — Faith  is  the 
eastern  pillar ;  charity  the  western ;  and  hope  the  key  stone  of  this 
royal  arch.'''' — This  theological  ladder  has  seven  rounds,  and  is  enig- 
matically described  in  the  degree  called  Knight  of  Kadosh,  which  I 
shall  hereafter  notice.  It  marks  the  course  of  the  sun  through  seven 
sighs  of  the  zodiac,  commencing  at  the  vernal  equinox,  and  ending  at 
the  autumnal,  both  inclusive.  The  semicircle  made  by  the  sun  in 
passing  these  signs,  forms  the  celebrated  royal  arch ;  and  a  mason  to 
attain  the  degree  so  called,  must  pass  through  the  seven  grades  of  the 
order.  The  three  principal  steps  above  noticed,  allude  to  the  equi« 
noxes,  and  the  northern  solstice. 

Why  should  the  master  represent  the  pillar  of  wisdom,  and  be  sta- 
tioned in  the  east?  As  the  sun  rises  in  the  east  to  open  and  adorn  the 
day,  so  rises  (at  these  words  the  master  rises,)  the  worshipful  master  in 
xhQ  east  to  opeu  and  adorn  his  lodge,  and  sot  the  crafl  to  work.    Why 


285 

should  the  senior  warden  represent  the  pillar  of  strength?  As  the 
sun  sets  in  the  west,  to  close  the  day,  so  stands  the  senior  warden  in  the 
west,  to  close  the  lodge,  and  dismiss  the  men  from  lahor,  paying  them 
their  wages.  The  junior  warden  represents  the  pillar  of  beauty, 
because  he  stands  in  the  south,  at  high  twelve  at  noon,  which  is  the 
glory  and  beauty  of  the  day,  to  call  the  men  off  from  labor  to  refresh- 
ment, and  to  see  that  they  come  on  again  in  due  time. 

The  above  arrangement  is  evidently  deceptive.  Wisdom,  applica- 
ble to  the  true  God,  who,  according  to  pagan  theology,  resides  in  the 
immenHty  of  space,  is  kept  out  of  view,  and  Osiris  the  sun  is  substituted 
in  his  place.  Strength  which  is  required  for  labor,  at  the  opening  of 
the  day,  and  which  is  applicable  to  the  sun,  is  transferred  to  its  close, 
Avhen  the  men  are  called  from  labor.  The  senior  warden  properly  per- 
sonates Isis,  indicating  the  productions  of  the  earth  in  the  fall,  which 
ornaments  and  beautifies  the  creation.  The  sun,  moon,  and  Orus  or 
Orion,  (which  lies  directly  over  the  equator,)  form  the  wisdom,  strength 
and  beauty  of  the  three  first  degrees ;  and  they  also  composed  the  vul- 
gar trinity  of  the  Egyptians. 

The  two  principal  pillars  are  called  Jachin  and  Boaz,  and  are  sup- 
posed to  be  placed  at  the  equinoctial  points ;  Boaz  in  the  east,  and 
Jachin  in  the  west ;  the  former  being  on  the  left  hand,  and  the  latter  on 
the  right,  to  the  inhabitants  of  the  northern  hemisphere,  the  seat  of 
masonry.  "The  equinoctial  points  are  called  pillars,  because  the 
great  semicircle,  or  upper  hemisphere,  doth  seem  to  rest  upon  them." 
(R.  Taylor.) 

In  the  degree  oi  perfect  wias^er,  these  two  pillars  are  said  to  he  fixed 
crossivays.  It  is  asked,  are  you  a  perfect  master  ?  Ans.  I  have  seen 
the  circle  and  the  square  enclosing  the  two  columns.  What  do 
the  columns  represent?  Jachin  and  Boaz,  through  which  I  must 
have  passed  to  arrive  at  the  degree  of  perfect  master.  What  have  you 
done  in  entering  the  lodge  ?  I  came  to  the  altar,  worked  as  an  entered 
apprentice,  fellow-craft,  and  master,  to  cross  the  two  columns.  "  Now, 
(says  Taylor,)  what  are  cross- ways  but  two  ways  of  which  one  crosses 
the  other  ?  These  cross-ways,  Boaz  and  Jachin,  are  the  equinoctial 
points,  at  which  the  line  of  the  ecliptic  crosses  the  line  of  the  equator — 
that  is,  the  sun  in  his  apparent  path,  the  ecliptic,  comes  to  shine  directly 
over  the  line  of  the  equator :  this  he  does  in  spring  and  autumn,  and 
only  then." 

The  fellow-craft  is  said  to  receive  his  wages  in  the  middle  chamber, 
at  which  he  arrives  by  seven  winding  stairs,  passing  the  two  pillars  of 


286 


ANALYSIS   OF   FREEMASONRY  : 


Boaz  and  Jachin,  This  is  embematical  of  the  seven  circular  stages, 
made  by  the  sun  in  his  tour  round  those  imaginary  columns.  The 
emerging  of  the  sun  from  the  lower  hemisphere,  on  the  21st  of  March, 
and  his  return  on  the  27lh  of  September,  may,  in  figurative  language, 
be  denominated  his  rising  and  setting  in  regard  to  our  hemisphere. 
Thus  Osiris,  the  sun,  sets  the  husbandmen  to  work  on  his  rising  at  the 
former  period,  and  Isis,  the  emblem  of  harvest,  pays  them  in  the  fruits 
of  the  earth,  on  his  return  to  the  latter. 

The  following  figure  is  that  by  which  the  symbol  of  harvest 
is  represented  in  mythology;  The,  torch,  however,  was  peculiar  to 
Ceres. 


IsiSf  Ceres,  Cyhele,  etc. 


apprentice's  degree.  287 

So  the  master  of  the  lodge,  who  stands  in  the  east,  representing  the 
sun,  rises  and  sets  his  men  to  work ;  and  the  senior  warden,  who 
stands  in  the  west,  representing  Isis,  pays  them  their  wages.  To  ren- 
der this  personification  oif  Isis  perfectly  plain,  a  painting  of  a  sheaf  of 
wheat,  is  hung  back  of  the  senior  warden's  seat.* 

It  is  also  worthy  of  remark,  that  as  the  pagans  constructed  their 
temples  in  a  manner  to  represent  the  world,  they  would  naturally  for 
that  purpose,  imagine  the  world  to  be  divided  into  three  departments  or 
chambers  ;  the  upper,  the  middle,  and  the  lower.  The  middle  cham- 
ber would  of  course  include  the  autumnal  equinox  :  and  on  the  arrival 
of  the  sun  at  that  point  of  the  heavens,  the  laborer,  the  husbandman,  is 
paid  his  wages  in  the  fruits  of  the  earth. 

Freemasons  hall,  in  London,  is  a  partial  imitation  of  a  pagan 
temple.  "  In  the  center  of  the  roof  of  this  magnificent  hall,  says  Smith, 
a  splendid  sun  is  represented,  surrounded  with  the  twelve  signs  of  the 
zodiac."  And  he  adds,  *'  The  scientific  freemason  only  knows  the 
reason  why  the  sun  is  thus  placed  in  the  center  of  this  beautiful  hall." 

How  is  the  lodge  situated  ?  Due  east  and  west,  because  all 
churches  and  chapels  are  or  ought  to  be  so. 

All  pagan  temples  were  so  situated  in  consequence  of  the  sun's 
being  the  universal  object  of  worship,  "  The  Egyptians,  Chaldeans, 
Indians,  Persians,  and  Chinese,  all  placed  their  temples  fronting  the 
east,  to  receive  the  first  rays  of  the  suii.  Hence  the  worship  of  the 
sun  has  been  the  religion  of  the  ancient  people  from  which  these,  [the 
present  race]  are  descended." — ^Tytler's  El  em.  of  Hist. 

It  is  true  this  custom  continued  long  after  the  cause  which  pro- 
duced it,  ceased  to  be  respected.  Preston,  in  his  illustrations  of  masonry, 
in  giving  a  description  of  St.  Paul's  Cathedral,  says,  "  A  strict  regard 
to  the  situation  of  this  edifice,  due  east  and  west,  has  given  it  an  oblique, 
appearance  in  respect  to  Ludgate  street  in  front."  This  building  was 
finished  in  1696.  Its  architect,  Sir  Christopher  Wren,  in  a  letter  dated 
1707,  addressed  to  a  joint  commissioner  with  himself  for  building 
churches  to  supply  the  places  of  those  destroyed  by  the  conflagration  of 

♦Henry  O'Brien  A.  B.  in  a  late  work  entitled  :  "Phenecian  Ireland,"  Dublin,  1833  ; 
after  treating  of  some  other  of  the  pagan  divinities,  says : 

"But  our  decision  on  the  word  sibbol,  a  name  by  which  the  Irish,  as  well  as  almost 
all  other  nations,  designated  and  worshiped  Cybele,  must  be  guided  altogether  by 
another  principle.  For  here  I  at  once  recognise  the  Syriac  character  as  derived  from 
sibola,  an  ear  of  corn,  under  which  guise  the  Phenecians  used  to  worship  the  earth  as 
the  mother  of  all  harvests,  and  vegetables.  All  nations,  therefore,  by  one  common 
consent,  represented  Cybele  holding  in  her  right  hand  some  ears  of  corn."  [wheat] 
(p.  107.)— Now,  Cybele  has  been  shown  to  be  but  another  name  for  Isis. 


288  "  ANALYSIS    OF    FREEMASONRY  : 

16G6,  observes,  "As  to  the  situation  of  the  churches,  I  should  propose 
they  be  brought  forward  as  far  as  possible  into  the  larger  and  more 
open  streets.  Nor  are  we,  I  think,  too  nicely  to  observe  east  or  west 
in  the  position,  unless  it  falls  out  properly."  See  Anderson's  Const, 
of  freemasonry. 

Have  you  any  ornaments  in  your  lodge?  Yes,  the  masonic  pave- 
ment, the  blazing  star,  and  the  indented  or  tesseled  border.  The 
Mosaic  pavement  is  the  flooring  of  the  lodge.  This  points  out  the 
diversity  of  objects  which  decorate  and  adorn  the  creation,  ihe  animate 
as  well  as  the  inanimate  parts  thereof  "  The  same  divine  hand  which 
hath  blessed  us  with  the  sights  of  his  glorious  works  in  the  heavens, 
hath  also  spread  the  earth  with  a  beautiful  carpet :  he  hath  wrought  it 
in  various  colors,  fruits  and  flowers,  pastures  and  meads;  he  hath 
wrought  it  as  it  were,  in  mosaic  work,  giving  a  pleasing  variety  to  the 
eye  of  man." — Smith. 

The  blazing  star  in  the  center,  indicates  that  prudence  which  ought 
to  appear  conspicuous  in  the  conduct  of  every  mason.  The  indented 
or  tesseled  border  refers  us  to  the  planets  which  in  their  various  revolu- 
tions, form  a  beautiful  border  of  skirt-work  round  that  grand  luminary 
the  sun.  The  furniture  of  the  lodge  is  the  volume  of  the  sacred  law^ 
the  compass,  and  the  square. 

The  origin  of  what  is  called  mosaic  work,  as  well  as  the  term  by 
which  it  is  designated,  appears  to  be  lost  through  the  lapse  of  time. 

"The  ancients,  especially  the  Greeks,  says  Bailey,  adorned  their 
floors,  pavements  of  temples,  palaces,  etc.,  with  mosaic,  or  rather  musaic 
work.  A  work  composed  of  many  stones,  or  other  matters  of  differ- 
ent colors,  so  disposed  as  to  represent  divers  shapes  of  ornaments,  birds, 
etc."  Dr.  Rees  observes,  "  The  critics  are  divided  as  to  the 
origin  and  reason  of  the  name  mosaic."  He  then  gives  unsatisfac- 
tory hypotheses  of  several  writers  on  the  subject,  and  coucludes  by  say- 
ing, "  Mosaic  appears  to  have  taken  its  origin  from  paving :"  leaving 
the  question  as  to  the  propriety  of  thus  denominating  any  kind  of  paving 
unsolved.  This  matter  having  eluded  the  researches  of  the  learned  for 
so  many  ages,  that  it  is  with  diffidence  I  offer  the  following  remarks 

"  The  rural  works,  says  Pluche,  not  being  resumed  in  Egypt  till 
after  the  Nile  had  quitted  the  plain,  they  for  this  reason,  gave  the  pub- 
lic sign  of  husbandry  the  name  of  Moses  or  Museus,  saved  from  the 
v:aiers ;  and  on  the  same  account,  the  nine  moons  during  which  Horus, 
Apollo,  or  husbandry  continued  his  exercises,  went  by  the  same  name." 
Hence,  as  we  have  seen,  originated  the  fable  of  the  nine  muses.     "  Isis 


289 

says  the  same  writer,  was  so  far  the  proclamation  of  the  year,  that  she 
put  on  such  clothes  and  dresses  as  were  agreeable  to  the  four  seasons. 
To  announce  the  beginning  of  spring  that  overspreads  atid  enamels 
the  earth  with  flowers  and  verdure,  she  wore  carpets  of  different 
colors,"  etc. 

Now,  what  could  be  more  appropriate  than  to  denominate  the  vari- 
egated and  beautiful  face  of  the  earth  in  Egypt,  during  the  nine  months 
that  bore  the  name  of  Moses  or  Museus,  mosaic  or  musaic  work,  and 
to  give  the  same  appellation  to  its  imitation  ? 

The  Egyptians  and  other  ancient  nations  held  high  hills,  groves, 
etc.  in  superstitious  veneration;  and  although  when  more  civilized,  in 
order  to  shelter  themselves  from  the  weather,  they  quitted  these  favorite 
retreats,  and  worshipped  their  gods  in  temples ;  still  it  was  natural  that 
they  should  endeavor  to  imitate  the  scenes  which  they  venerated,  and 
had  been  accustomed  to  contemplate  in  their  former  devotions.  With 
this  view  then,  they  decorated  their  temples  so  as,  in  some  mea- 
sure, to  resemble  the  works  of  creation  as  exhibited  in  the  places  where 
they  before  assembled  for  religious  worship.  And  the  name  Mosaic 
or  Musaic  would  naturally  occur  to  them  as  proper  to  be  given  to  this 
ornamental  work,  intended  to  represent  the  face  of  the  earth  during  the 
nine  mosaic  months. 

How  many  principles  are  there  in  masonry  ?  Four :  point,  line, 
superfices,  and  solid.  Point  the  center,  round  which  the  master  can- 
not err;  line,  length  without  breadth  ;  solid  comprehends  the  whole, 
(Prichard.)  This  as  before  observed,  is  the  definition  of  the  science  of 
geometry. 

A  point  within  a  Circle. 

"  In  all  regular,  well  constituted  lodges,  there  is  a  point  within  a 
circle,  which  is  bounded  between  north  and  south  by  two  parallel  lines 
one  representing  Moses,  the  other  king  Solomon.  On  the  upper  part 
of  this  circle  rests  the  volume  of  the  sacred  law,  which  supports  JacoVs 
ladder,  the  top  of  which  reaches  to  heaven*     In  going  round  this  circle 


*  "  In  the  factitious  caves,  which  priests  every  where  constmcted,  they  celebrated 
mysteries  which  consisted,  says  Origen  against  Celsus,  in  imitating  the  motion  of  the 
stars,  the  planets,  and  the  heavens.  The  mitiated  took  the  name  of  constellations,  and 
assumed  the  figure  of  animals.  In  the  cave  of  MUhra  was  a  ladder  of  seven  steps, 
representing  the  seven  spheres  of  the  planets,  by  means  of  which  souls  ascended  and 
descended;  this  is  precisely  the  ladder  in  Jacob's  vision;  which  shows  that  at  that 
epoch,  the  whole  system  was  formed.  There  is  in  the  royal  library  a  superb  volume  of 
pictures  of  the  Indian  gods,  in  which  the  ladder  is  represented  with  the  souls  of  men 
ascending  it.     See  Bailey's  ancient  astronomy."    (Ruins,  p.  239.) 

I  apprehend  that  the  author  is  mistaken  in  regard  to  the  steps  of  this  allegorical  lad- 

37 


290 


ANALYSIS    OF    FREEMASONRY 


we  must  necessarily  touch  on  both  these  parallel  lines,  and  on  the 
sacred  volume,  and  while  a  mason  keeps  himself  thus  circumscribed, 
he  cannot  err." — Carlile. 

Although  our  ancient  brethren  dedicated  their  lodges  to  king  Solo- 
mon, yet  masons  professing  Christianity,  dedicate  theirs  to  St.  John  the 
Baptist,  and  St.  John  the  Evangelist,  who  were  eminent  patrons  of 
masonry ;  and  since  their  time  there  is  represented  in  every  regular  and 
well  governed  lodge,  a  point  within  a  circle  ;  the  point  representing 
an  individual  brother,  the  circle  representing  the  boundary  line  of  his 
duty  to  God  and  man,  beyond  which  he  is  never  to  suffer  his  passions, 
prejudices,  or  interest,  to  betray  him  on  any  occasion.  This  circle  is 
embroidered  by  two  perpendicular  parallel  lines,  representing  St. 
John  the  Baptist,  and  St.  John  the  Evangelist,  who  were  perfect  paral- 
lels in  Christianity  as  well  as  masonry;  and  upon  the  vertex  rests 
the  book  of  Holy  Scriptures,  which  point  out  the  whole  duty  of  man. 
In  going  round  the  circle,  we  necessarily  touch  upon  these  two  lines, 
as  well  as  upon  the  Holy  Scriptures ;  and  while  a  mason  keeps  him- 
self thus  circumscribed,  it  is  impossible  that  he  should  materially  err. 
(Webb.) 


R 


That  expositors  of  masonry  should  differ  in  their  interpretation  of 
this  figure,  is  not  surprising.  It  is  an  astronomical  enigma,  the  sense 
of  which  was  probably  lost  sight  of  during  the  centuries  in  which  the 


der.  The  spheres  of  the  planets  being  mere  imaginary  lines,  and  not  so  well  adapted 
as  the  permanent  constellations.  And,  in  order  to  imitate  the  sun,  the  principal  object 
of  the  pagan  religious  ceremonies,  these  would'naturally  be  fixed  upon  for  the  purpose. 
The  actors,  in  the  scenical  representations  in  the  cave  of  Mithra,  by  taking  the  name  oi 
constellations,  and  assuming  the  hgme  of  animals,  corroborate  this  opinion. 


FREEMASONRY.  291 

affairs  of  the  lodge,  with  very  few  exceptions,  were  in  the  hands  of 
ignorant  craftsmen. 

The  solution  of  the  symhol  I  take  to  he  as  follows:  The  point  in 
the  center  represents  the  Supreme  Being;  the  circle  indicates  the 
annual  circuit  of  the  sun  ;  and  the  parallel  lines  mark  out  the  solstices 
within  which  that  circuit  is  limited.  The  mason  by  subjecting  himself 
to  due  bounds,  in  imitation  of  that  glorious  luminary,  will  not  wander 
from  the  path  of  duty.  The  device  is  ingenious,  and  its  meaning  ought 
to  be  restored  in  the  lodge  to  its  original  intention. 

The  assertion  that  lodges  were  formerly  dedicated  to  Solomon,  is 
gratuitous,  and  I  believe  will  not  admit  of  proof  I  am  not  sensible  of 
any  historical  document  that  substantiates  the  fact.  We  know  very 
little  of  masonry  prior  to  the  revival  of  the  order  in  1717.  And  we 
learn  by  the  earliest  report  of  its  practices,  that  the  old  masons  hailed 
from  the  holy  lodge  of  Si.  John.  It  is  evident,  as  before  observed,  that 
the  Druids  adopted  the  names  of  their  solstitial  festivals,  which  had  been 
assumed  for  them  by  the  Christians,  calling  them  St.  Johns'  days ;  and 
it  is  highly  probable  that  they  resorted  to  the  same  finess  to  delude 
their  enemies,  as  well  as  those  of  the  fraternity  who  were  not  fully  ini- 
tiated into  their  mysteries,  in  dedicating  their  lodges  to  these  saints. 

This  artifice  of  introducing  the  St.  Johns  among  the  symbols  of 
masonry,  has  put  the  craft  to  their  wits  to  invent  a  plausible  story  to 
meet  the  case,  and  they  have  come,  it  is  presumed,  to  an  erroneous  con- 
clusion, that  this  was  done  by  Christian  masons. 

What  do  you  learn  by  being  a  gentleman  mason  ?  Secrecy^  morality^ 
and  good  fellowship.  What  do  you  learn  by  being  an  operative 
mason?  To  hew,  square,  and  mould  stone;  lay  a  level  and  raise  a 
perpendicular.  Have  you  seen  your  master  to-day?  Yes.  How  was 
he  clothed  7  In  a  yellow  jacket  and  blue  pair  of  breeches.  (The  mas- 
ter is  the  compasses,  the  yellow  jacket  is  the  brass  body,  and  the  blue 
breeches  are  the  steel  points.)  How  old  are  you?  Under  seven. 
("  Denoting  he  had  not  passed  master.")  Or  rather  that  he  had  not 
passed  to  the  fellow-craft's  degree,  seven  years  being  formerly  the  term 
of  an  apprenticeship  in  freemasonry  as  in  other  trades. 

The  five  last  questions  and  answers  are  from  Prichard  ;  and  from 
the  simplicity  of  the  dialogue,  it  may  be  concluded  the  original  lan- 
guage and  facts  have  not  been  perverted,  and  consequently  that 
there  were  accepted,  gentlemen  masons,  that  is  not  of  the  craft,  from  the 
foundation  of  the  institution. 


292  ANALYLIS    OF    FREEMASONRY  : 

Fellow-Craft^ s  Degree. 

Are  you  a  fellow-craft  ?  I  am.  Why  were  you  made  a  fellow- 
craft?  For  the  sake  of  the  letter  G.  What  does  the  letter  G  denote? 
Geometry,  or  the  fifth  science.  In  another  part  of  the  same  degree,  G 
is  said  to  denote  '*  the  grand  architect  and  contriver  of  the  universe."* 
On  being  further  questioned,  the  respondent  replies,  by  letters  four  and 
science  five  this  G  aright  doth  stand,  in  a  due  art  and  proportion.  You 
have  your  answer,  friend.  (N.  B.  Four  letters  are  Boaz,  fifth  science, 
geometry.)  (Prichard.)  The  importance  bestowed  upon  geometry,  the 
fifth  science,  according  to  masonic  classification,  may* be  another  reason 
why  five  should  compose  a  lodge. 

How  did  you  attain  to  this  degree  ? — -By  the  benefit  of  a  grip  and 
pass-word.  The  name  of  the  grip  is  Jachin ;  that  of  the  pass-word 
Shibboleth,  which  denotes  plenty,  and  is  represented  by  a  sheaf  of  wheat 
suspended  near  a  water-ford.  (Allyn.)  Did  you  ever  work  ?  Yes,  in 
the  building  of  the  temple.  Where  did  you  receive  your  wages?  In 
the  middle  chamber,  which  I  entered  through  the  porch,  by  seven 
winding  stairs,  where  I  discovered  two  great  columns  or  pillars.  The 
name  of  the  one  on  the  left  hand  is  Boaz,  and  denotes  strength ;  that  on 
the  right,  Jachin,  which  denotes  to  establish ;  and  when  combined,  sta- 
bility; for  God  said,  in  strength  will  I  establish  this  mine  house,  to 
stand  firm  forever.  The  house  of  God  is  the  universe,  which  is  doubt- 
less established  upon  principles  that  will  sustain  it  forever.  The  pil- 
lars Boaz  and  Jachin  are  imaginary  props,  standing  at  the  two  equi- 
noxes east  and  west,  to  support  the  world.  Here  it  may  be  remarked, 
that  the  pillar  representing  Boaz,  or  the  sun,  is  properly  said  to  denote 
strength,  whereas  in  the  apprentice's  degree  it  is  made  to  denote  wis- 
dom. Jachin  signifying  Isis  the  moon,  was  a  necessary  appendage  to 
the  creation,  and  perhaps  may  be  applied  metaphorically,  to  establish. 

*  It  has  been  seen,  that  by  the  doctrine  of  the  Pythagoreans,  as  well  as  that  of 
masonry,  the  Supreme  Being  is  often  confounded  with  geometry  as  containing  the 
principles  of  the  material  world.  This  is  in  conformity  to  the  source  from  which 
both  derive  their  origin. 

"  The  secret  doctrine  of  the  Egyptian  priests,  like  that  of  the  Brahmins  of 
India  and  the  Magi  of  Persia,  presents  itself  under  the  double  form  of  a  Theologi- 
cal and  Cosmogonical  system.  It  had  for  a  basis,  a  species  of  pantheism,  at  one 
moment  more  physical,  at  another  ^ore  intellectual  in  its  character,  and  at  times, 
again  combining  both  of  these  attributes  ;  a  personification  of  the  powers  of  nature 
more  or  less  identified  with  the  powers  of  mind,  and  conceived  in  a  point  of  view 
having  reference  to  a  mysterious  unity  in  which  the  Deity  and  tlje  uniyerse  were 
blended  together,"     (Professor  Anthon's  Class.  Diet.) 


DEGREE.  293 

"The  sun  is  the  creator  and  father,  the  moon  the  mother  of  all 
things.  These  two  deities  govern,  produce,  and  nourish  every  thing 
connected  with  the  visible  universe.  The  sun  is  the  third  Demiurgus, 
the  supreme  creative  intelligence  under  the  third  form :  incarnate  he 
becomes  Osiris,  the  author  of  all  good,  and  it  is  he  that  completes  the 
Egyptian  trinity."    (Anthon's  Class,  Diet.) 

Osiris,  the  sun,  by  his  genial  influence  in  the  spring  season,  pre- 
pares the  earth  for  cultivation,  gives  life  to  its  various  productions,  and 
consequently  enables  the  husbandman  to  commence  his  labors.  Isis, 
the  teeming  mother,  who  personifies  the  earth  as  well  as  moon,  nour- 
ishes during  the  summer,  the  seeds  committed  to  her  bosom,  and  in  the 
fall  season  rewards  the  laborer. 

The  pillars  of  Boaz  and  Jachin,  are  described  to  be  eighteen  cubits 
high,  twelve  in  circumference,  and  four  in  diameter. 

The  eighteen  cubits  refer  to  the  inundation  of  the  Nile,  being  the 
highest  elevation  it  is  known  to  have  attained.  The  twelve  cubits 
relate  to  the  twelve  signs  of  the  zodiac,  through  which  the  sun  passes ; 
^nd  the  four  cubits  have  reference  to  the  tetractys,  which  comprehends 
the  principles  of  geometry,  point,  line,  superfices,  and  solid. 

The  pillars  are  adorned  with  two  large  chapiters,  which  are  orna- 
mented with  net- work,  denoting  unity;  lily-work,  denoting  peace;  and 
pomegranates,  vvhichfrom  the  exuberance  of  their  seeds,  denote  plenty. 
It  is  only  the  pillar  of  Jachin,  which  represents  Isis,  the  emblem  of 
harvest,  that  is  decorated  with  pomegranates  in  the  figures  of  these 
columns  among  the  masonic  symbols.  They  are  further  adorned  with 
two  globes,  one  celestial,  the  other  terrestrial. 

This  display  of  globes,  like  most  of  the  customs  of  masonry,  may 
be  traced  to  Egypt.  Dr.  Richardson,  as  recorded  in  a  former  part  of 
this  work,  in  describing  the  gateway  or  porch,  leading  to  the  temple  of 
Isis,  in  Tentyra,  says  "  Immediately  over  the  centre  of  the  doorway,  is 
the  beautiful  Egyptian  ornament  usually  called  the  globe,  with  ser- 
pents and  wings,  emblematical  of  the  glorious  sun  poised  in  the  airy 
firmament  of  heaven,  supported  and  directed  in  his  course  by  the  eter- 
nal wisdom  of  the  Deity." 

Voltaire,  however,  is  of  opinion  that  this  globe  indicated  the 
Supreme  Being;  he  says,  "  It  maybe  remarked,  that  the  globe  placed 
over  the  door  of  the  temple  of  Memphis,  represented  the  unity  of  the 
divine  nature,  under  the  name  of  Knef " — (Oeuvres — T.  16,  p.  100.) 

The  candidate  having  learned  the  grip,  token,  and  ])ass-word  (Shib- 
boleth, plenty,)  of  the  fellow-craft,  receives  his  wages,  and  passes  the 


294  EXPLANATION  OF  THE  TRAVELS  OF 

pillar  of  Jachin.  He  is  then  placed  in  the  south-east  part  of  the  lodge, 
and  thus  addressed  by  the  master : 

Brother,  masonry  being  a  progressive  science,  when  you  were  made 
an  entered  apprentice,  you  were  placed  in  the  north-east  part  of  the 
lodge,  to  show  that  you  were  newly  admitted.  You  are  now  placed  in 
the  south-east  part,  to  mark  the  progress  you  have  made  in  the  science. 

Thus  the  candidate  commences  his  labors  at  that  point  where  the 
sun  is  supposed  first  to  have  risen  at  the  period  of  the  creation,  and  by 
pursuing  the  course  of  that  luminary  till  he  has  completed  the  circuit, 
becomes  then  worthy  of  the  master's  degree. 

Master  Mason^s  Degree. 

The  degree  of  master  mason  follows  that  of  fellow-craft.  And  as  it 
contains  the  story  of  the  murder  of  Hiram  upon  which  the  entire  fabric 
of  masonry  is  erected;  the  very  gist  of  the  order,  to  which  all  other 
considerations  are  subordinate ;  which  meets  us  at  every  turn  through 
all  the  varied  scenes  of  the  institution,  it  becomes  necessary  to  possess 
a  due  knowledge  of  the  original  upon  which  it  is  founded.  This  is 
the  fable  of  Osiris  and  Isis ;  which  I,  therefore,  place  as  an  introductory 
preface  to  the  master's  degree.  I  take  the  fable  fromL'Origine  de  tons 
les  Cultes,  par  Dupuis. 

Explanation  of  the  Travels  of  Isis,  or  the  Moon. 

The  moon  was  associated,  by  the  ancient  Egyptians,  with  the  sun 
in  the  general  administration  of  the  world,  and  it  is  she  who  represents 
the  character  of  Isis  in  the  sacred  fable,  known  by  the  title  of  the  his- 
tory of  Osiris  and  Isis.  The  first  men  who  inhabited  Egypt,  says  Dio- 
dorus  of  Sicily,  struck  with  the  grandeur  of  the  heavens,  and  the 
admirable  order  of  the  universe,  thought  they  perceived  two  primary 
and  eternal  causes,  or  two  grand  divinities,  and  they  called  one  of  them^ 
or  the  sun,  Osiris ;    and  the  other,  or  moon,  Isis. 

The  denomination  of  Isis,  given  to  the  moon,  is  confirmed  by  Por- 
phyry, and  other  authors ;  whence  we  draw  a  necessary  conclusion, 
that  the  courses  or  journeying  of  Isis  are  no  other  than  the  courses  of 
the  moon ;  and  as  the  regions  of  the  heavens  are  those  she  traverses 
in  her  monthly  revolutions,  we  will  there  fix  the  scene  of  her  adventures. 

This  conclusion  is  justified  by  the  passage  from  Cheremon,  where 
this  learned  Egyptian  tells  us,  that  the  Egyptians  explained  the  fable  of 
Ofiris  and  Isis,  as  well  as  all  other  sacred  fables,  by  the  celestial  bodies* 


ISIS,    OR    THE    MOON.  295 

by  the  phases  of  the  moon,  by  the  increase  and  diminution  of  her  light, 
by  the  division  of  time  and  of  the  heavens  into  two  parts,  by  the  para, 
natellojis  or  the  stars  which  rise  and  set  in  aspect  with  the  signs.  It  is 
upon  this  principle  we  have  explained  the  poem  of  the  Twelve  Labors 
of  Hercules ;  we  shall  follow  the  same  principle  in  the  explication  of 
the  Legend  of  Isis ;  of  which  we  shall  give  also  a  comparative  table, 
with  those  presented  by  the  heavens,  at  the  moment  when  the  sun  has 
departed  from  our  hemisphere,  and  left  to  the  moon,  then  at  her  full,  the 
empire  over  long  nights,  up  to  the  moment  when  he  returns  again  to 
our  regions. 

Let  us  take  then  Isis  at  the  epoch  of  the  death  of  Osiris,  her  husband, 
and  let  us  follow  her  steps,  from  the  moment  when  she  is  deprived  of 
him,  up  to  that  when  he  returns  to  her  from  hell ;  or,  to  drop  the  figure, 
from  the  moment  when  the  sun  has  passed  into  the  southern  or  inferior 
regions  of  the  world,  up  to  that  when  he  repasses  conqueror  into  the 
northern  or  superior  hemisphere. 

Plutarch  supposes  that  Osiris,  after  his  travels,  being  on  his  return 
through  Egypt,  was  invited  to  a  repast  by  Typhon,  his  brother  and 
rival.  The  latter  put  him  to  death  and  threw  his  body  into  the  Nile. 
The  sun,  says  Plutarch,  then  occupied  the  sign  Scorpio,  and  the  moon 
was  full ;  she  was  then  in  the  sign  opposite  to  Scorpio,  that  is  to  say,  to 
Taurus,  which  lent  its  forms  to  the  sun  c^  the  spring  equinox  or  to 
Osiris  ;  for  at  that  distant  period,  Taurus  was  the  sign  which  answered 
to  the  spring  equinox.  As  soon  as  Isis  was  informed  of  the  death  of 
the  unfortunate  Osiris,  whom  all  the  ancients  had  denominated  the 
same  god  as  the  sun,  when  she  learned  that  the  genius  of  darkness  had 
shut  him  up  in  a  coffin,  she  commenced  a  search  after  his  body.  Uncer- 
tain of  the  route  she  ought  to  pursue,  uneasy,  agitated,  her  heart  lacer- 
ated with  grief,  in  mourning  garb,  she  interrogates  every  one  she  meets. 
She  is  informed  by  some  young  children  that  the  coffin  which  contains 
the  body  of  her  husband,  had  been  carried  by  the  waters  out  to  sea  and 
thence  to  Biblos,  where  it  was  stopped ;  and  was  now  reposing  upon  a 
plant,  which  had  immediately  put  forth  a  supeib  stalk.  The  coffin  was 
so  enveloped,  as  to  bear  the  appearance  of  being  but  a  part  of  it.  The 
king  of  the  country,  astonished  at  the  beauty  of  the  bush,  had  it  cut,  and 
made  of  it  a  column  for  his  palace  without  perceiving  the  coffin  which 
had  become  incorporated  with  the  trunk.  Isis  actuated  by  a  divine 
impulse,  arrives  at  Biblos, ;  bathed  in  tears,  she  seats  herself  near  a 
fountain,  where  she  remained  overwhelmed  with  grief  speaking  to  no 
one  until  the  arrival  of  some  of  the  queen's  women.     She  salutes 


296  EXPLANATION  OF  THE  TRAVELS  OF 

them  politely,  and  commences  dressing  their  hair  in  such  a  manner  as 
to  spread  in  it,  as  well  as  over  their  whole  body,  the  odour  of  an  exqui- 
site purfume. 

The  queen  learning  from  her  women  what  had  happened,  and  per- 
ceiving the  exquisite  odour  of  the  ambrosia,  desired  to  know  this  stran- 
ger. She  invites  Isis  to  her  palace,  attached  her  to  her  household ;  and 
placed  her  as  nurse  to  her  son.  The  goddess  then  made  herself  known 
and  demanded  that  the  precious  column  should  be  given  to  her. 

She  drew  from  it  easily  the  body  of  her  husband,  by  disengaging 
the  coffin  from  the  branches  which  covered  it ;  these  she  found  to  be  of 
light  texture,  which  she  perfumed  with  essences ;  she  sent  to  the 
king  and  queen  this  envelope  of  strange  boughs,  which  was  depos- 
ited at  Biblos,  in  the  temple  of  Isis.  She  then  embarked  and  returned 
to  Egypt,  to  Orus  her  son ;  and  deposited  the  body  in  a  secluded 
place.  Typhon  having  gone  that  night  to  the  chase,  finds  the  coffin 
recognized  the  corpse,  and  cuts  it  into  fourteen  pieces*  which  he  scat- 
tered here  and  there. 

The  goddess  seeing  this,  returned  to  collect  these  dispersed  frag- 
ments ;  she  interred  each  part  in  the  place  where  it  was  found.  Of  all 
the  parts  of  the  body  of  Osiris,  those  of  propagation  were  the  only  ones 
Isis  could  not  find.  She  substituted  for  them  the  phallus,  which  was 
the  image  of  them,  and  which  was  consecrated  in  the  mysteries. 

This  is  the  precise  Egyptian  legend  concerning  Isis,  which  has  not 
been  handed  down  to  us  without  much  mutilation,  and  which  make  part 
of  a  sacred  poem  upon  Osiris,  Isis,  and  Typhon,  their  enemy. 

Notwithstanding  the  immense  deficiencies  discoverable  in  this  alle- 
gorical history,  it  will  not  be  difficult  for  us  to  trace  a  perfect  corres- 
pondence between  the  principal  features  of  this  sacred  fable  which 
remain  to  us,  and  the  representations  which  the  heavens  ofler,  at  the 

*  That  is,  into  as  many  parts  as  there  are  days  between  the  full  moon  and  the  new- 
This  circumstance,  says  Plutarch,  has  reference  to  the  gradual  diminution  of  the  lunary 
light,  during  ihe  fourteen  days  that  follow  the  full  moon.  The  moon  at  the  end  of 
fourteen  days,  enters  Taurus  and  becomes  united  to  the  sun,  from  whom  she  collects 
fire  upon  her  disk,  during  the  fourteen  days  which  follow.  She  is  then  found  every 
month  in  conjunction  with  him  in  the  superior  parts  of  the  signs. 

The  equinoctial  year  finishes  at  the  moment  when  the  sun  and  moon  are  found  united 
with  Orion,  or  the  star  of  Orus,  a  constellation  placed  under  Taurus,  which  unites  itself 
to  the  Neomenia  of  Spring. 

The  moon  renews  herself  in  Taurus,  and  a  few  days  after,  is  seen  in  the  form  of  a 
crescent,  in  the  following  sign,  that  is,  Gemini,  the  home  of  Mercury.  Then  Orion, 
united  to  the  sun,  in  the  attitude  of  a  formidable  warrior,  precipitates  Scorpio,  his  rival, 
into  the  shades  of  night;  for  he  sets  every  time  Orion  appears  above  the  horizon. 
The  day  becomes  lengthened,  and  the  germs  of  evil  are  bv  degrees  destroyed.  It  is 
thus  that  the  poet  Nonnus  pictures  to  us  Typhon  conquered  at  the  end  of  winter,  when 
the  sun  arrives  in  Taurus,  and  when  Orion  mounts  into  the  heavens  with  hinu 


OF    ISIS,    OR    THE    MOON.  297 

different  epochs  of  the  movements  of  the  two  great  stars  which  regulate 
the  course  of  the  seasons;  the  periodical  march  of  vegetation,  the  divi- 
sion of  time,  and  the  succession  of  days  and  nights. — We  will  now 
proceed  as  in  the  poem  on  Hercules,  to  bring  together  these  different 
representations,  those  which  are  presented  by  the  fable,  as  well  as  those 
exhibited  by  the  heavens.     We  will  divide  them  into  twelve  parts. 

[Here  follows  a  critical  comparison  between  the  wanderings  of  Isis 
in  search  of  the  dead  body  of  Osiris,  and  the  courses  of  the  moon  in 
the  heavens  ;  but  as  the  fable  alone  answers  the  purpose  here  intended, 
I  omit  the  comparative  representations.  The  foregoing  note,  how- 
ever, is  drawn  from  the  part  omitted.  The  author  concludes  as  folr 
lows :] 

A  conformity  so  complete,  and  one  which  bears  so  many  points  of 
resemblance  between  the  representations  of  the  legend  and  those  of  the 
heavens,  and  which,  mutilated  as  the  legend  or  this  sacred  history  may 
Ibe,  is  so  well  sustained  from  one  end  to  the  other,  as  not  to  permit  us  to 
doubt  that  the  astronomical  priest  who  composed  it,  did  nothing  more 
than  write  down  the  courses  of  the  moon  in  the  heavens,  under  the  title 
of  the  wanderings  of  Isis  ;  especially  when  it  is  known  that  Isis  is  the 
name  given  to  the  moon  in  Egypt.  We  have,  in  our  explanation,  only 
made  use  of  the  method  laid  down  for  us  by  Cheremon  to  analyse  these 
sacred  fables,  and  especially  that  of  Osiris  and  Isis,  which  he  said  was 
relative  to  the  increases  and  diminutions  of  the  light  of  the  moon  at  the 
superior  and  inferior  hemispheres,  and  to  the  stars  in  aspect  with  the 
signs,  otherwise  called  paranatellons.  The  learned  men  of  Egypt  have 
themselves  traced  out  the  plan  which  we  have  adopted. 

Here  we  have  then  an  ancient  queen  of  Egypt  and  an  ancient  king, 
whose  imaginary  adventures  have  been  described  in  the  form  of  his- 
tory, but  who,  however,  as  the  Hercules  of  the  Greeks,  are  only  physi- 
cal beings,  and  the  two  principal  agents  of  nature.  We  are  led  to 
judge,  by  these  examples,  of  the  allegoric  character  of  antiquity,  and  to 
consider  how  much  we  should  be  on  our  guard  against  traditions  which 
place  physical  beings  as  characters  in  history. 

It  is  important  not  to  lose  sight  of  the  fact,  that  formerly  the  history 
of  the  heavens  and  particularly  of  the  sun,  was  written  under  the  form 
of  a  history  of  men,  and  that  the  people,  almost  universally,  received  it 
as  such,  and  looked  upon  the  hero  as  a  man.  The  tombs  of  the  gods 
were  shown,  as  if  they  had  really  existed ;  feasts  were  celebrated,  the 
object  of  which  seemed  to  be  to  renew  every  year  the  grief  which  had 
been  occasioned  by  their  loss. 
38 


298  KXPLANATIOiN     OF    THE    TRAVELS 

Such  was  the  tomb  of  Osiris,  covered  under  those  enormous  masses^ 
known  by  the  name  of  Pyramids;  which  the  Egyptians  raised  to  the 
star  which  gives  us  light.  One  of  these  has  its  four  fronts  facing  the 
four  cardinal  points  of  the  world.  Each  of  these  fronts,  is  one  hundred 
and  ten  fathoms  wide  at  its  base,  and  the  four  form  as  many  equila- 
teral triangles.  The  perpendicular  height  is  seventy-seven  fathoms, 
according  to  the  measurement  given  by  Chazelles,  of  the  Academy  of 
Sciences.  It  results  from  these  dimensions,  and  the  latitude  under 
which  this  pyramid  is  erected,  that  fourteen  days  before  the  spring  equi- 
nox, the  precise  period  at  which  the  Persians  celebrated  the  revival  of 
nature,  the  sun  would  cease  to  cast  a  shade  at  midday,  and  would  not 
again  cast  it  tiW  fourteen  days  after  the  fall  equinox.  Then  the  day  or 
the  sun  would  be  found  in  the  parallel  or  circle  of  southern  declension, 
which  answers  to  five  degrees  fifteen  minutes ;  this  would  happen  twice 
a  year,  once  before  the  spring  equinox,  and  once  after  the  fall  equinox. 
The  sun  would  then  appear  exactly  at  mid-day  upon  the  summit  of  this 
pyramid.  Then  his  majestic  disk  would  appear  for  some  moments, 
placed  upon  this  immense  pedestal  and  to  rest  upon  it,  while  his  wor- 
shippers, on  their  knees  at  its  base,  extending  their  view  along  the 
inclined  plane  of  the  northern  side  of  the  pyramid,  would  contemplate 
the  great  Osiris,  as  well  when  he  descended  into  the  darkness  of  the  tomb, 
as  when  he  arose  from  it  triumphant*  The  same  might  be  said  of  the 
full  moon  of  the  equinoxes,  when  it  takes  place  in  this  parallel. 

It  would  seem  that  the  Egyptians,  always  grand  in  their  concep- 
tions, had  executed  a  project  the  b'oldest  that  was  ever  imagined,  of  giving 
a  pedestal  to  the  sun  and  moon,  or  to  Osiris  and  Isis,  at  midday  for  the 
one,  and  at  midnight  for  the  other,  when  they  arrived  in  that  part  of  the 
heavens  near  to  which  passes  the  line  which  separates  the  northern  from 
the  southern  hemisphere,  the  empire  of  good  from  that  of  evil,  the 
region  of  light  from  that  of  darkness.  They  wished  that  the  shade 
should  disappear  from  all  the  fronts  of  the  pyramid  at  mid-day,  during 
the  whole  time  that  the  sun  sojourned  in  the  luminous  hemisphere, 
and  that  the  northern  front  should  be  again  covered  with  shade  when 
night  began  to  attain  her  supremacy  in  our  hemisphere,  that  is,  at  the 
moment  when  Osiris  descended  into  the  tomb  or  into  hell.     The  tomb 

♦  Here  we  find  an  explanation  of  the  time  that  it  is  said  the  body  of  grand  master 
Hiram  reposed  in  the  tomb  before  it  was  discovered,  and  raised  by  king  Solomon. 
Which,  says  Bernard,  "it  is  said,  had  lain  \\terefoiLrteen  days;  some  say  fifteen."  To 
have  suffered  the  body  of  Hiram  to  have  remained  in  this  tomb /i/?een  days,  would  have 
marred  the  original  design  :  it  would  have  entirely  destroyed  tne  astronomical  allusion 
intended  by  the  incarceration.— Edit. 


OF    ISIS,    OR    THi;    MOON,  899 

of  Osiris  was  covered  with  shade  nearly  six  months;  after  which  light 
surrounded  it  entirely  at  mid-day,  as  soon  as  Osiris,  returning  from  hell, 
regained  his  empire  in  passing  into  the  luminous  hemisphere.  Then 
he  had  returned  to  Isis  and  to  the  god  of  spring,  Orus,  who  had  at 
length  conquered  the  genius  of  darkness  and  of  winter.  Whnt  a  sub-_ 
lime  idea !  In  the  centre  of  the  pyramid  ill  a  vault,  which  is  said  to 
be  the  tomb  of  an  ancient  king.  This  king  is  the  husband  of  Isis, 
the  famous  Osiris,  this  beneficent  king  whom  the  people  believed  to 
have  reigned  formerly  over  Egypt,  while  the  priest^s  and  learned  men 
saw  in  him  the  powerful  planet  whi^ch  governs  the  world  and  enriches 
it  with  his  benefits.  And,  in  fact,  would  they  have  ever  gone  to  so 
great  an  expense  if  this  tomb  had  not  been  reputed  to  contain  the  pre- 
cious remains  of  Osiris,  which  his  wife  had  collected,  and  which  she 
confided,  say  they,  to  the  priests,  to  be  interred  at  the  same  time 
that  they  decreed  to  him  divine  honors?  Can  we  suppose  that  there 
was  any  other  object  among  a  people  who  spared  nothing  to  give  all 
pomp  and  magnificence  to  their  worship,  and  whose  greatest  luxury 
was  a  religious  luxury?*  It  is  thus  that  the  Babylonians,  who  wor- 
shipped the  sun  under  the  name  of  Belus,  raised  him  a  tomb  which 
was  hid  by  an  immense  pyramid;  for  as  soon  as  the  powerful  planet 
which  animates  nature,  became  personified,  and  in  the  sacred  fictions 
was  made  to  be  born,  to  die  and  to  rise  again,  imitative  worship,  which 
sought  to  retrace  his  adventures,  placed  tombs  beside  their  temples. 

Thus  is  shown  that  of  Jupiter,  in  Crete;  of  Mithra,  in  Persia;  of 
Hercules,  in  Cadis ;  of  the  Coachman,  the  Celestial  Bear,  of  Medusa, 
of  the  Pleaides,  etc.,  in  Greece.  These  various  tombs  prove  nothing 
for  the  historical  existence  of  the  feigned  personages  to  whom  the  mys- 
tic spirit  of  the  ancients  had  consecrated  them. 

They  show,  also,  the  place  where  Hercules  burned  himself  up,  and 
we  have  shown  that  Hercules  was  no  other  than  the  sun  personified  in 
the  sacred  allegories ;  at  the  same  time  that  we  have  proved  that  the 

*  This  seems  to  me  to  be  the  most  reasonable  conjecture  that  has  appeared,  respec- 
tinff  the  motives  which  caused  the  erection  of  those  stupendous  monuments,  the  pyra- 
mids. 

On  the  subject  of  the  Sphynx,  which  has  also  caused  great  speculation  in  regard  to 
its  origin  and  purport,  the  author  of  the  "  Identity  of  the  Druidical  and  Hebrew  reli- 
gions,   gives  the  following  solution  : 

The  Sphynx  was  a  representation  of  the  signs  Leo  and  Virgo  joined  together,  in  com- 
memoration of  the  inundation  of  the  Nile,  which  occurs  when  the  sun  is  in  those  signs, 
The  Egyptians  had  always  a  sort  of  astronomical  mystic  reverence  for  the  three  signs, 
Cancer,  Leo,  and  Virgo."  M.  MailJet  is  of  the  same  opinion.  (See  Anthon's  Class. 
Diet.)  The  great  utility  of  the  overflowing  of  the  Nile  to  Egypt,  which  was  considered 
a  providential  occurrence,  was  sufficient,  among  a  Buperstitious  people,  to  cause  its  com- 
memoration in  this  manner. — Edit. 


300  ANALYSIS    OF    FREEMASONRY! 

adventures  of  the  queen  Isis  were  those  of  the  moon,  sung  by  her  wor- 
shippers. 

I  now  proceed  with  the 

Master   Mason^s   Degree. 

This  degree,  as  before  observed,  is  chiefly  occupied  in  the  pretended 
assassination  of  Hiram  A-biff* 

The  Temple  of  Solomon,  like  the  temples  of  the  Egyptians  and 
other  nations  of  the  eavSt,  is  said  to  have  been  constructed  with  a  view 
to  a  representation  of  the  world  in  miniature;  thereby  the  better  to 
adapt  it  to  the  popular  prejudice  in  favor  of  performing  religious  rites 
in  places  where  the  operations  of  nature  were  exhibited  before  the 
worshippers.  This  temple,  therefore,  was  well  adapted  for  those  astro- 
nomical allusions  which  composed  the  mystic  rites  of  the  ancients  ; 
and  was  for  this  reason  probably  selected,  by  the  Druids,  as  an  appro- 
priate place  in  which  to  lay  the  scene  of  masonic  mysteries. 

The  equinoxes  and  solstices  are  called  the  gates  of  heaven  through 
which  the  sun  passes.  It  was  only  at  the  latter,  however,  that  any 
obstructions  were  believed  to  occur  to  his  free  egress  and  reofress- 
The  scene,  therefore,  of  the  death  of  Hiram,  who  takes  the  part  of 
Osiris,  as  now  acted  in  the  lodges,  is  not  a  close  imitation  of  the  origi- 
nal, which  has  been  lost  sight  of,  but  is  sufficiently  so  to  show  from 
whence  the  copy  is  derived. 

Are  you  a  master  mason? — lam;  try  me;  prove  me ;  disprove 
me,  if  you  can.  Where  were  you  passed  master  ? — In  a  perfect  lodge 
of  masters.  What  makes  a  perfect  lodge  of  masters  % — Three.  Why 
do  three  make  a  lodge  ?  Because  there  were  three  grand  Masons 
in  building  the  loorld.     (Master  Key,  and  Jachin  and  Boaz.) 

Here  the  Kneph,  Osiris,  and  Isis  of  the  Egyptians ;  the  Agathon, 
Logos,  and  Psyche  of  the  Platonists ;  and  the  Wisdom,  Strength,  and 
Beauty  of  masonry,  are  too  clearly  indicated  to  admit  of  misinterpre.' 
tation. 

From  whence  came  you? — From  the  east.  Where  are  you 
going? — -To  the  west.     For  what  purpose? — To  search  for  that  which 


*  There  is  no  propriety  in  the  addition  of  AbiflT  or  Abbif  to  the  name  of  Hiram.  In 
the  original  Hebrew  from  which  it  is  taken,  the  atiix  is  Abbi,  the  possessive  case  of 
Abba;  which  signifies  father,  and  figuratively,  a  superior.  His  proper  address,  there- 
fore is  my  father,  or,  in  court  style,  my  lord.  In  this  sense,  it  is  equivalent  to  Adonis, 
Baal,  or  Osiris,  all  names  of  the  sun.  And  as  Solomon's  temple  was  built  so  as  to 
imitate  the  world,  the  grand  architect  was  very  properly  entitled. 


MASTER    mason's    DEGREE.  301 

was  lost.  What  was  that  which  was  lost? — The  master  mason's 
word.  How  was  it  lost  ? — ^By  three  great  knocks,  or  the  death  of  our 
master  Hifam.  Where  do  you  hope  to  find  it? — Witli  a  center. 
What  is  a  center  ? — A  point  within  a  circle,  fnom  which  every  part 
of  the  circumference  is  equally  distant.  Why  with  a  center? — 
Because,  from  that  point,  no  master  mason  can  err. 

The  allusion  here  to  Osiris  the  sun  is  very  plain  :  and,  when  found, 
it  is  evident  he  must  be  on  the  imaginary  circle  made  by  hi->  annual 
course,  unless  he  should  deviate  from  the  order  of  nature.  And  the 
point  m  the  center  of  that  circle,  according  to  the  meaning  evidei.tly 
intended,  it  is  equally  certain,  would  be  found  in  its  proper  place. 

The  story  of  Fliram  is  as  follows : 

At  the  building  of  Solomon's  temple,  fifteen  fellow-crafts,  perceiving 
that  the  work  was  nearly  finished,  and  not  having  received  the  master's 
word,  grew  impatient,  and  agreed  to  extort  it  from  their  master  Hiram 
the  first  opportunity  they  could  find  of  meeting  him  alone,  that  they 
might  pass  for  masters  in  other  countries,  and  receive  wages  as  such ; 
but  before  they  could  accomplish  their  scheme,  twelve  of  them  recanted. 
The  other  three,  being  of  a  more  determined  character,  persisted  in 
their  design :  their  names  were  Jubela,  Jubelo,  and  Jubelum. 

Hiram  having  entered  the  temple  at  twelve  at  noon,  as  was  his 
custom,  to  pay  his  devotion  to  God,  the  three  assassins  placed  them- 
selves at  the  east,  west,  and  south  doors ;  Hiram  having  finished  his 
prayer,  came  to  the  east  door,  which  was  guarded  by  Jubela,  who 
demanded  of  him  the  master's  grip  and  word  in  a  resolute  manner  ; 
he  received  for  answer  from  Hiram,  that  it  was  not  customary  to  ask 
it  in  such  a  strain ;  that  he  himself  did  not  receive  it  so.  He  told  him 
farther,  that  it  was  not  in  his  power  alone  to  reveal  it,  except  in  the 
presence  of  Solomon,  and  Hiram,  king  of  Tyre.  Jubela  being  dissa- 
tisfied with  this  answer,  struck  him  across  the  throat  with  a  twenty- 
four  inch  guage.  Hiram  then  flew  to  the  south  door,  where  he  received 
similar  treatment  from  Jubelo  ;  and  thence  to  the  west  door,  where  he 
was  struck  on  his  head  by  Jubelum,  with  a  gavel  or  setting  maul, 
which  occasioned  his  death.     (Jachin  and  Boaz.) 

Carlile  places  the  conspirators  at  the  east,  north,  and  south  entrances 
of  the  temple ;  and  makes  Hiram  receive  the  finishing  stroke  at  the 
east  door.  Whereas,  to  render  the  parallel  in  strict  accordance  as  an 
allegory  of  the  death  of  Osiris,  Hiram  should  expire  at  the  north  ot 
south  gate  or  door. — The  story  is  badly  conceived,  as  there  is  no 


302  ANALYSIS    OF    FREEMASONRY: 

pretext  for  confining  the  word  to  Solomon  and  the  two  Hirams,  nor  for 
requiring  that  it  should  not  be  communicated  except  in  the  presence  of 
the  three.  Besides,  according  to  masonic  tradition,  there  were  at  the 
same  time  3,30q  master  masons  employed  on  the  temple,  who  must  of 
course  have  been  furnished  with  the  master's  word.  To  make  out  the 
parody,  however,  it  was  necessary  that  Hiram  be  put  to  death,  and  a 
cause  must  be  invented  to  procure  it ;  and  altho  the  one  fixed  upon  for 
the  purpose,  appears  very  mal  a,  propos,  it  seems  to  be  satisfactory  to 
the  craft. 

It  may  be  remarked,  however,  that  Solomon  and  the  two  Hirams 
are  here  intended  to  represent  the  trinity  in  unity,  and  therefore,  it 
jnay  be  supposed,  could  not  act  separately. 

How  did  the  ruffians  dispose  of  the  body?^They  carried  it  out  at 
the  west  door  (according  to  the  apparent  course  of  the  sun)  and  hid  it 
till  twelve  o'clock  the  next  night,  when  they  met  by  agreement,  and 
buried  it  on  the  side  of  a  hill,  in  a  grave  six  feet  perpendicular,  dug 
due  east  and  west ;  and  stuck  down  a  sprig  of  cassia,*  to  mark  the 
place. 

Master  Hiram  not  coming  to  view  the  workmen  as  usual,  king 
Solomon  caused  search  to  be  made  for  him  in  and  about  the  temple  ; 
which  proving  ineffectual,  he  ordered  the  roll  of  workmen  to  be  called  ; 
when  it  was  found  that  three  were^  missing,  namely,  Jubela,  Jubelo,  and 
Jubelum.  The  twelve  fellow-crafts  who  had  recanted,  then  went  to 
Solomon  with  white  aprons  and  gloves,  emblems  of  their  innocence, 
and  informed  him  of  every  thing  relating  to  the  afTair,  as  far  as  they 
knew,  and  offered  their  assistance  to  discover  the  three  others  who 
had  absconded. 

Solomon  then  ordered  twelve  trusty  fellow-crafts  to  be  selected, 
and  sent  three  east,  three  west,  three  north,  and  three  south,  in  search 
of  Hiram.  Elder  Bernard  gives  fifteen  as  the  number  selected  for  this 
purpose,  and  adds,  ."In  some  lodges  they  send  only  twelve,  when  their 
own  lectures  say  fifteen  were  sent."  The  Elder  was  not  aware  of  the 
vast  importance  of  confining  the  number  to  precisely  twelve.  Those 
who  were  deputed  for  this  service  represented  the  twelve  signs  of  the 
zodiac ;  one  of  whom  would  be  sure  to  find  their  grand  master  Hiram, 
the  personification  of  Osiris  the  sun. 

The  party  that  took  a  westerly  course,  fell  in  with  a  way-faring 

*  "  Cassia,  my  friends,  did  not  grow  about  Jerusalem."    (Dr.  Dalcho.) 


MASTER    MASON  S    DEGREL".  303 

man,  near  the  coast  of  Joppa,  who,  on  being  interrogated,  informed 
them  that  he  had  seen  three  men  pass  that  morning,  whom  from  their 
appearance,  he  took  to  be  workmen  from  the  temple.  They  had  been 
seeking  for  a  passage  to  Ethiopia,  and  not  being  able  to  obtain  it,  had 
turned  back  into  the  country.  This  party  then  returned,  and  made 
their  report  to  Solomon.  Of  the  three  who  steered  an  easterly  course, 
one,  being  weary,  sat  down  at  the  brow  of  a  hill  to  rest  and  refresh 
hiftiself;  and  in  rising,  he  caught  hold  of  a  twig,  which  coming  easily 
up,  excited  his  suspicions;  and  perceiving  the  ground  to  have  been 
recently  broken,  he  hailed  his  companions,  and  on  searching,  they 
found  the  body  of  their  grand  master  Hiram,- decently  buried  in  a 
handsome  grave,  six  feet  east  and  west,  and  six  feet  perpendicular ;  and 
its  covering  was  green  moss  and  iurf  which  surprised  them :  where- 
upon they  exclaimed,  muscus  domus  Dei  gratia,*  which,  according  to 
masonry,  is,  thanks  be  unto  God,  our  master  has  got  a  mossy  house. 
So  they  covered  him  closely,  and  w^nt  and  acquainted  king  Solomon. 

In  regard  to  the  conspirators,  it  shall  suffice  here  to  say,  that 
according  to  the  story,  they  were  discovered,  arrested,  and  executed. 
"Jubelum's  body  was  severed  in  two,  and  scattered  in  south  and 
north." — (Jachin  and  Boaz.) 

After  which  Solomon  ordered  twelve  crafts  to  take  up  the  body  of 
Hiram,  in  order  that  it  might  be  interred  in  a  solemn  manner  in  the 
sanctum  sanctorum ;  he  also  told  them,  if  they  could  not  find  a  key- 
word about  him,  it  was  lost ;  for  there  were  only  three  in  the  world  to 
whom  it  was  known  ;  and  unless  they  were  present  it  could  not  be 
delivered;  and  Hiram  being  dead,  it  consequently  was  lost.  But  the 
first  sign  and  word  that  were  made  and  spoken  at  his  raising  should 
be  the  master's  word  ever  after.  The  twelve  crafts  went  and  cleared 
the  rubbish,  and  found  their  master  in  a  mangled  condition,  having 
lain  fourteen  days  ;  upon  which  they  lifted  tip  their  hands  above  their 
heads  and  exclaimed,  O  Lord  my  God  !  They  failed  in  their  attempts 
to  raise  the  body,  either  by  the  grip  of  the  apprentice,  or  that  of  the 
fellow-craft,  the  flesh  cleaving  from  the  bone:  upon  which  they  all 
raised  their  hands,  and  exclaimed,  O  Lord  my  God  !  I  fear  the  master's 
word  is  forever  lost ;  was  there  no  help  for  the  widow's  son? 

King  Solomon  then  ordered  a  lodge  of  master  masons  to  be  sum- 
moned, and  said,  I  will  go  myself  in  person,  and  try  to  raise  the  body 
by  the  master's  grip  or  lion^s  paic.     Some  say,  by  the  strong  grip  or 


*  The  Latin  tongue  seems  to  have  been  familiar  to  the  Hebrew  masons  of  king 
Solomon's  temple. 


304 


ANALYSIS    OF    FREEMASONRY 


lion's  paw.     (Bernard.)     By  means  of  this  grip  the  body  of  grand 
master  Hiram  was  raised.* 


The  raising  of  Osiris,  the  'prototype  of  Hiram,     {Seepage  15.) 


If  this  affair  would  admit  of  serious  criticism,  upon  the  supposition 
that  this  word  was  a  mere  name,  term,  or  phrase,  it  might  be  asked 
what  was  the  use  in  seeking  for  that  which  when  found,  could  not  be 
made  use  of,  unless  the  finders  turned  traitors,  and  exposed  it  unlaw- 
fully.    The  story,  as  before  observed,  wants  plausibility. 

This  word,  however,  is  not  a  name,  it  is  the  personified  Logos,  the 
key  stone^  of  the  arch,  the  absence  of  which  rendered  the  structure 
incomplete. 

That  Solomon  and  the  two  Hirams  are  made  to  personate  the  pagan 
trinity  is  evident  from  the  following  : 

Master — What  supports  our  lodge?  Ans.  Three  pillars.  Pray 
what  are  their  names,  brother? — Wisdom,  Strejigth,  and  Beauty. 
What  do  they  represent  ? — Three  grand  masters ;  Solomon,  king  of 

*  The  author  of  the  Secret  Discipline,  &c.  before  noticed,  remarks  on  the  pass- 
word of  this  degree  that,  "By  a  singular  lapsus  linguce,  the  moderns  have  substituted 
Tubal  Cain  in  the  third  degree  for  Tymboxein,  to  be  entombed.  This  in  the  ancient 
Cateche.ns  Arcani,  was  the  pass-word,  from  the  symbolical  representation  of  the  state 
of  death,  to  the  restored  and  undying  existelice." 


MASTER    mason's    DEGREE.  305 

Israel;  Hiram,  king-  of  Tyre;  and  Hiram  Abiff;  the  three  grand 
masters  concerned  in  the  building  of  Solomon's  temple.  And  we 
were  before  told,  there  were  three  grand  Masons  in  building  the 
world; — of  which  Solomon's  temple  was  an  epitome. 

The  names  Jubela,  Jubelo,  Jubelum,  given  to  the  pretended  assas- 
sins of  Hiram,-  I  take  to  be  a  play  upon  the  word  Jubilum,  the  Latin 
term  answering  to  Jubilee.  They  were  of  course  formed  at  the  time 
freemasonry  was  first  established.  The  inflections  of  this  word  will 
give  Jubili,  Jubilo,  Jubilum.  That  a  slight  variation  should  have 
taken  place  in  their  pronunciation,  will  not  appear  surprising,  when  it 
is  considered  that  they  have  been  handed  down  orally,  by  illiterate 
men,  through  many  ages.  Jubilum  is  derived  from  jubeo,  to  appoint; 
it  also  signifies  to  bid,  order,  charge,  or  command.  Now,  these  reputed 
assassins  are  represented  as  demanding,  in  an  imperious  and  authori- 
tative tone,  of  grand  master  Hiram,  the  master's  grip  and  word ;  and 
their  names  were  probably  given  in  allusion  to  this  circumstance 
being  appropriate  to  the  character  assumed  for  them. 

Besides  the  relation  which  the  story  of  Hiram  bears  to  that  of 
Osiris,  there  is  a  singular  fancy  set  forth  in  ancient  astronomy  in 
regard  to  the  reputed  murderers  of  Chrisna,  which  contains  a  strict 
analogy  to  the  supposed  assassination  of  Hiram. — Chrisna,  among  the 
Hindoos,  is  the  same  as  Osiris  with  the  Egyptians,  and  is  worshipped 
by  them  in  like  manner.  Nothing  could  be  more  explanatory  of  the 
fable  of  Hiram  than  this  astronomical  notion;  which  is  given  in 
Mackey's  mythological  astronomy,  as  follows : 

"  The  stories  which  have  been  the  result  of  the  particular  method 
made  use  of  by  ancient  historians  to  express  the  various  changes  of 
the  constellations  and  seasons  of  the  year ;  and  the  causes  of  those 
changes,  may  be  worth  our  while  to  examine. 

"  The  Elohim,  the  Decans,  or  the  Symbols  which  presided  over  the 
thirty-six  subdivisions  of  the  zodiac,  or  more  properly  speaking,  of  the 
year,  each  month  having  three,  were  those  gods,  whose  care  it  was  to 
regulate  the  weather  in  the  different  seasons,  and  who  were  supposed 
to  vary  it  according  to  their  Avill. 

"  These  Decans  or  Elohim  are  the  gods,  of  whom  it  is  said,  the 
Almighty  created  the  universe.  They  arranged  the  order  of  the  zodiac. 
The  Elohim  of  the  summer  were  gods  of  a  benevolent  disposition : 
they  made  the  days  long,  and  loaded  the  sun's  head  with  topaz.  While 
the  three  wretches  that  presided  in  the  winter,  at  the  extreme  end  of  the 
year,  hid  in  the  realms  below,  were,  with  the  constellation  to  which 
they  belong,  cut  off  from  the  rest  of  the  zodiac ;  and,  as  they  were 

39 


306  ANALYSIS  OF  FREEMASONRY  : 

missing,  would  consequently  be  accused  of  bringing  Chrisna  into  those 
troubles  which  at  last  ended  in  his  death.*" 

Eleven  is  one  of  the  numbers  singled  out  to  make  a  lodge,  which 
like  the  rest,  must  have  an  astronomical  allusion  ;  and  there  is  little 
doubt  that  it  refers  lo  the  fanciful  notion  just  detailed  in  regard  to  the 
defection  of  one  of  the  great  gods  composing  the  zodiaz,  with  his 
attendant  satellites,  the  Decans  or  Elohim.  In  consequence  of  this 
treachery,  but  eleven  of  these  great  chiefs  remained  faithful  to  their 
lord,  the  supreme  ruler,  the  sun.  This  circumstance  would  be  suffi- 
cient to  cause  the  commemoration  of  that  number,  in  the  manner  it  is 
done  in  masonry. 

It  may  be  remarked,  that  the^lamentations  uttered  for  the  death  of 
grand  master  Hiram,  is  in  exact  accordance  with  the  customs  of  the 
Egyptians  in  their  celebrations  of  the  fabled  death  of  Osiris  the  sun  5 
of  the  Phenicians  for  the  loss  of  Adonis ;  and  of  the  Greeks,  in  their 
mystic  rites  cvf  the  Eleusinian  Ceres. 

It  is  through  the  instrumentality  of  Leo,  that  Osiris,  the  sun-,  is 
relieved  from  his  perilous  condition.  The  strong  paw  of  the  lio7i 
wrests  him  from  the  clutches  of  Typhon,  and  places  him  in  his  wonted 
course.  Anubis,  the  dog-star,  is  the  herald  of  this  event.  Here  we 
see  the  archetype  of  the  raising  of  grand  master  Hiram,  by  the  "  strong: 
gripe  or  lion^s  pawJ^ 

In  short,  the  attentive  reader  must  have  perceived,  that  the  story  of 
Hiram,  is  only  another  version,  like  those  of  Adonis  and  Astarte,  and 
of  Ceres  and  Proserpine,  of  the  fable  of  Osiris  and  Isis.  The  likeness 
throughout  ia  so  exact  as  not  to  admit  of  doubt.  The  search  for  the 
body  of  Hiram; — the  inquiries  made  of  a  wayfaring  man,  and  the 
intelligence  received ; — ^the  sitting  down  of  one  of  the  party  to  rest 
and  refresh  himself,  and  the  hint  conveyed  by  the  sprig  over  the 
grave  ; — the  body  of  Hiram  remaining  fourteen  days  in  the  grave  pre- 
pared by  the  assasssins,  before  it  was  discovered,  all  have  allusion  to, 
and  comport  with  the  allegory  of  Osiris  and  Isis.  Thecondition  even 
in  which  the  grave  of  Hiram  is  found,  covered  with  green  moss  and 
turf,  corresponds  very  much  with  that  in  which  Isis  found  the  coffin  of 
Osiris. 

Again,  the  cutting  up  and  scattering  the  parts  of  the  body  of 
Jubelum,  is  a  fac  simile  of  the  treatment  which  the  body  of  Osiris  is 
said  to  have  received.     By  the  way,  the  oath  imposed  upon  the  master 


♦  This  is  a  sketch  of  the  life  of  the  sun,  who,  fiiiishing  his  career  at  the  winter  sol- 
stice, when  Typhon  and  the  rebel  angels  gain  the  dominion,  seems  to  be  put  to  death 
by  them ;  but  who  soon  after  ia  born  again,  and  rises  into  the  vault  of  heaven  where 
he  reigns.— .Rmijm,  p.  165.— Edit. 


SELECT    MASTERS    DEGREE.  307 

inason  very  likely  grew  out  of  the  fable  of  Typlion's  murder  of  Osi- 
ris, and  afterwards  cutting  up  the  body  into  fourteen  pieces,  and  scatter- 
ing  them  hither  and  thither  on  the  plains  of  Egypt. 

Select  Master'' s  Degree, 

Mr.  Cole,  Editor  of  "  The  Freemasons'  Library,"  says,  "  There  are, 
1  am  bold  to  assert,  but  four  degrees  in  ancient  freemasonry.  This 
opinion  accords,  not  only  with  the  sentiments  of  the  oldest  and  best 
informed  masons,  with  whom  I  have  conversed,  but  is  also  agreeable  to' 
written  and  printed  documents;  some  of  the  latter  of  which  are  almost 
as  old  as  the  art  of  printing  itself.''  The  intermediate  degrees  between 
the  master's  and  that  of  royal  arch,  which  he  considers  the  fourth, 
which  have,  he  says,  within  a  few  years  past,  been  manufactured 
into  degrees,  are  merely  elucidatory  of  the  second,  third,  and  fourth. 
Why,  Mr.  Cole  need  not  have  gone  farther  back  into  antiquity  than  to 
1750,  to  learn  that,  at  that  time,  but  three  degrees  of  masonry  Were 
known  to  the  world.  The  party  who  styled  themselves  ancient 
masons,  about  this  time,  discovered  the  royal  arch  among  the  archives 
of  the  order,  as  has  been  shown  above ;  but  which  those  called  mod- 
erns were  strangers  to,  and  did  not  then  acknowledge. 

The  division  of  masonry  into  degrees  is  entirely  arbitrary,  and  since 
operative  masonry  is  no  longer  taught  in  the  lodge,  unnecessary.  The 
reasons  which  governed  in  the  administration  of  the  pagan  rites,  which 
concealed  from  the  initiates  of  the  lesser  mysteries  the  aporreta  or 
grand  secret,  which  was  communicated  to  those  of  the  greater,  are 
inapplicable  to  masonry.  For  that  secret,  the  existence  of  one  Supreme 
God,  and  the  error  of  polytheism,  is  now  openly  tnught  amongst  all 
nations  where  freemasonry  is  established.  The  affectation,  therefore, 
of  confining  this  knowledge  to  the  companions  of  the  royal  arch,  is  at 
this  time  extremely  absurd. 

What  Mr.  Cole  advances,  however,  in  regard  to  the  connection  in 
the  matter  of  the  several  degrees  which  he  notices,  is  evidently  very 
correct ;  and  the  same  might  be  said  of  the  two  first  degrees,  which 
are  merely  preparatory  to  the  third.  Still,  I  am  inclined  to  believe 
that  the  founders  of  the  order  divided  its  secrets  or  ceremonies  origi- 
nally into  seven  grades.  It  was  incumbent  upon  thern  to  move  slowly, 
and  to  manage  the  subjects,  with  whom  they  had  to  deal,  with  much 
caution,  for  fear  of  a  disclosure.  Besides  seven  steps  seem  necessary 
to  complete  the  rounds  of  the  holy  royal  arch,  the  grand  desideratum 
of  masonry. 


308  ANALYSIS    OF    FREEMASONRY: 

Of  the  mark  and  pass-masters'  degrees  there  is  nothing  worthy  of 
notice,  excepting  one  circumstance  in  that  of  the  latter;  which  is,  the 
electing  of  a  newly  initiated  member,  on  the  night  of  his  admission,  to 
preside,  yro  tempore,  as  master  of  the  lodge.  And  then  for  the  breth- 
ren to  exercise  their  wit  at  his  expence,  by  exposing  his  ignorance  of 
the  duties  of  the  office  imposed  upon  him  ;  finally  knocking  oif  his  hat, 
and  dragging  him  from  the  master's  chair. 

This,  as  has  been  noticed  above,  is  in  perfect  accord  with  the  cus- 
toms of  the  Pythagorean  school,  which  treattjd  novitiates  in  like  manner. 

In  regard  to  the  select  master's  degree,  Mr.  Cole  observes,  "  We 
know  of  no  degree  in  masonry,  that  has  a  more  needful,  or  more 
important  connection  with  another,  than  the  select  with  the  royal  arch. 
It  fills  up  a  chasm,  which  every  intelligent  mason  has  observed,  and 
without  it,  it  seems  difficult,  if  not  impossible,  to  comprehend  clearly 
some  of  the  mysteries  that  belong  to  the  august  degree  of  royal  arch. 
Indeed,  such  is  the  nature  of  the  degree,  that  we  cannot  feel  freedom  to 
allude  remotely  to  its  secrets."  And  Mr.  Cross  remarks,  "  Without 
this  degree,  the  history  of  the  royal  arch  cannot  be  complete.  It  ration- 
ally accounts  for  the  concealment  and  preservation  t)f  those  essentials 
of  the  craft,  which  were  brought  to  light  at.  the  erection  of  the  second 
temple,  and  which  lay  concealed  from  the  masonic  eye,  470  years." 

The  fact  is,  the  grand  omnific  (all-creating)  lost  word,  it  will  be  seen 
in  the  sequel,  was  eventually  found  in  a  vault  under  the  ruins  of  Solo- 
mon's temple;  and  the  difficulty  was  rationally  to  account  for  the 
manner  in  which  it  got  there.  This,  therefore,  is  the  grand  object 
of  the  select  master's  degree ;  and  at  the  same  time  so  to  locate  the 
word  as  symbolically  to  represent  its  archetype,  the  sun  lost  in  the 
inferior  hemisphere.  For  this  purpose,  a  history  of  the  order  was 
manufactured  by  its  founders,  of  which  the  following  is  a  sketch : 

The  three  grand  masters,  at  the  building  of  the  temple,  entered  into 
a  solemn  agreement  not  to  confer  the  master's  degree  until  the  temple 
should  be  completed,  that  all  three  must  be  present  when  it  should  be 
conferred,  and  if  either  should  be  taken  away  by  death  prior  to  the  fin- 
ishing of  the  temple,  the  master's  degree  should  be  lost. 

After  this  wise  arrangement,  lest  the  knowledge  of  the  arts  and  sci- 
ences, together  with  the  patterns  and  valuable  models  which  were  con- 
tained in  the  temple,  should  be  lost,  they  agreed  to  build  a  secret  vault 
ander  ground,  leading  from  Solomon's  most  retired  apartment,  a  due 
west  course,  and  ending  under  the  sanctum  sanctorum  of  the  temple,  to 
bs  divided  into  nine  separate  arches.     The  ninth  arch  was  to  be  the 


SELECT    master's    DEGREE.  ,  309 

place  for  holding  the  grand  council,  and  also  for  a  deposit  of  a  true 
copy  of  all  those  things  which  were  contained  in  the  sanctum  sancto- 
rum above. 

After  the  ninth  arch  was  completed,  the  three  grand  masters  depos- 
ited therein  those  things  which  were  important  to  the  craft,  such  as  the 
ark  of  the  covenant,  a  pot  of  manna,  the  rod  of  Aaron,  the  book  of  the 
law,  etc. 

Prior  to  the  completion  of  the  temple,  grand  master  Hiram  AbifF 
was  assassinated,  and  by  his  death,  the  master's  word  was  lost.  The 
two  kings  were  willing  to  do  all  in  their  power  to  preserve  the  sacred 
Word,  and  as  they  could  not  communicate  it  to  any,  by  reason  of  the 
death  of  Hiram,  they  agreed  to  place  it  in  the  secret  vault,  that  if  the 
other  treasures  were  ever  brought  to  light,  the  Word  might  be  found 
also. 

The  all-creating  or  omnific  Word  was  deposited  in  the  royal  vaults 
(the  term  used  in  this  degree,)  as  is  said,  in  three  languages,  Jah,  Bel, 
On,  which  are  all  names  of  the  sun.  The  direction  of  the  arches,  from 
east  to  west,  is  following  the  apparent  course  of  that  luminary ;  the 
royal  vault  therefore,  is  a  symbol  of  the  lower  regions,  in  which  the 
sun,  the  kingBXidi  governor  of  the  world,  was  supposed  to  be  lost.  Who 
"under  the  name  of  Osiris,  persecuted  by  Typhon  and  the  tyrants  of 
the  air,  was  put  to  death,  shut  up  in  a  dark  tomb,  emblem  of  the  hemis- 
phere of  winter;  and  aftewards,  ascending  from  the  inferior  zone 
towards  the  zenith  of  heaven,  arose  again  from  the  dead  triumphant  over 
the  giants  and  the  angels  of  destruction." — [Ruins,  p.  139.] 

The  nine  arches  have  an  astronomical  allusion  in  regard  to  the  lati- 
tude of  the  place  where  the  scene  is  intended  to  be  laid. 

Mackey  accounts  for  the  origin  of  the  mysterious  numbers  among 
different  nations  in  the  following  manner : — "  In  the  Asiatic  Researches 
(vol.  8,  p.  289,)  we  are  told,  that  '  seven  was  formerly  a  favorite  and 
fortunate  number  among  the  Hindus ;  eight  among  the  Baudhists  ;  and 
niiie  formerly  in  the  west,  and  in  the  north  of  Asia.  Nine  was  held  a 
sacred  and  mystical  number  in  the  northern  parts  of  the  continent,  from 
China  to  the  extremity  of  the  west.'  And  whjr?  Because  the  people 
there  lived  under  the  same  elevation  of  the  pole.  They  all  saw  the 
great  Dial  of  the  Deity  from  the  same  point  of  view ; — they  all  saw 
the  pole  from  the  ninth  stage  of  the  world,  that  is,  Ae  ninth  climate, 
from  which,  it  "would  be  seen  as  a  pyramid  with  nine  steps ;  while 
from  the  lattitude  of  32,  the  eighth  stage  of  the  world,  it  would  be  seen 
as  a  cone  or  pyramid  with  eight  steps.    At  Delhi,  in  latitude  28,  which 


310  ANALYSIS    OF    FREEMASONRY. 

is  in  the  seventh  stage,  or  climate,  the  pole  was  represented  by  a  cone 
of  seven  steps.  Hence,  we  find,  the  cause  which  induced  the  ancients, 
in  the  above  latitudes,  to  venerate  the  numbers  7-8-9,  was  astro-geo- 
graphical;  and  hence  also  w^e  see  the  impossibility  of  making  the 
astronomical  numbers  of  a  large  empire  agree  with  one  capital. 

"  According  to  Herodotus,  the  Tower  of  Babel,  which  was  in  the 
latitude  of  32  degrees,  had  a  road-way  up  on  the  outside,  which  went 
eight  times  round  in  its  accent,  so  as  to  give  the  whole  the  appear- 
ance of  eight  towers,  one  above  another.  These  were  no  doubt  intended 
to  commemorate  the  eight  revolutions  of  the  pole,  which  represented  a 
serpent  coiled  eight  times  round  a  mountain.  Besides  the  eight  volved 
Tower  of  Babel,  in  the  latitude  of  32  degrees,  we  find  at  Pekin,  a 
Tower  of  Porcelain  ten  stories  high,  thereby  indicating  its  latitude  to 
be  40  degrees ;  for  in  that  situation,  the  north  pole  is  so  far  elevated 
above  the  horizon  as  to  admit  ten  valves  of  the  serpent. 

"  Again,  in  Egypt,  we  find  the  statue  of  Pluto  with  a  serpent  coiled 
six  times  round  him,  which  represents  the  six  volves  of  the  pole  of  the 
ecliptic  round  the  south  pole  of  the  earth  ;  which  shows  that  the  statue 
must  have  been  erected  at  or  near  Thebes  or  Elephantine.  Thus  we 
see,  that  from  Pekin  to  Elephantine,  the  men  of  learning  agree  in 
coupling  the  histories  of  their  countries  with  that  of  the  heavens." — 
[Mytho.  Astro,  part  1st,  p.  68. J 

I  am  induced  to  add  the  following  curious  remarks  of  the  same 
writer,  as,  in  some  measure,  explanatory  of  the  preceding. 

"  The  stories  of  the  Pagans  concerning  the  ascension  of  their  gods 
into  heaven,  and  their  descent  into  hell,  have  produced  in  the  minds  of 
modern  Europeans  the  most  absurd  notions.^^such  as  never  entered 
the  minds  of  the  first  astronomers,  who  divided  the  heavens  into  three 
grand  divisions,  in  the  most  simple  manner  imaginable.  They  observed 
towards  the  north,  that  a  circuit  in  the  heavens  always  appeared  above 
the  horizon :  this  they  denominated  one  great  empire ;  and  as  there  is 
a  point  in  the  middle  of  it  which  is  always  stationary,  this  they  made 
the  seat  of  that  empire,  and  subjected  it  to  the  government  of  a  mon- 
arch, who  could  from  his  throne,  that  is  the  pole,  behold  all  the  nations 
of  the  earth,  both  by  night  and  by  day.* 

"  They  could  not  but  be  sensible  of  that  part  of  the  vast  concave  that 
is  forever  hid  from  our  sight,  surrounding  the  south  pole ;  this  was  dis- 
tinguished as  another  grand  division,  and  called  the  pit,  in  contra-dis- 

♦  This  notion  doubtles  gave  rise  to  the  custom  of  symbolizing  the  Deity  by  a  circle 
with  a  dot  in  its  centei.— Edit. 


MOST    EXCELLENT    MASTEr's    DEGREE.  311 

tinctioii  from  the  opposite,  which  was  calif d  the  mountain.!  Hence 
among  the  ancients,  arose  the  epithets  of  Hdion  and  Achtroa,  which 
meant  nearly  the  same ;  as  Hcli-on  is  the  sun  in  his  highest,  which  ther 
Greeks  pronounce  Heli-os,  that  is,  Elios,  the  7n,ost  high.  Acheron  is 
generally  translated  hell.  It  is  compounded  of  Achar,  the  last  state 
or  conditio7i,  and  0?i,  the  sun.  Achar-on,  therefore,  signifies  the  last 
state  or  condition  of  the  sun,  alluding  to  his  annual  disappearance  in 
those  constellations  which  were  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  south  pole. 
'•  We  see,  by  the  precession  of  the  equinoctial  pointSj^'that  while  one 
sign  is  sinking  into  the  bottomless  pit,  another  sign  is  ascending  into 
heaven,  that  is,  rising  up  towards  the  pole.  And  as  the  inhabitants  of 
the  earth  are  insensible  of  its  motion,  they  thought  the  pole  of  heaven 
revolved  round  that  of  the  eartK,  describing  a  figure  like  a  serpent 
coiled  eight  times ;  which  would  seem  like  a  ladder  with  eight  rounds, 
reaching  from  the  earth  up  to  the  pole,  that  is,  the  throne  of  Jove.  Up 
this  ladder  then  the  gods,  that  is,  the  signs  of  the  zodiac,  ascended  and 
descended." — [Myth.  Astr.  p'art  1,  p.  55.] 

Mosi  Excellent  Master's  Degree. 

This  degree  is  introduced  in  masonic  books  as  follows  : 

"  None  but  the  meritorious  and  praiseworthy,  none  but  those  who 
through  diligence  and  industry  have  advanced  far  towards  perfection, 
none  but  those  who  have  been  seated  in  the  oriental  chair  by  the  unan- 
imous suffrages  of  their  brethren,  can  be  admitted  to  this  degree  of 
masonry. 

"  In  its  original  establishment,  wHen  the  temple  of  Jerusalem  was 
finished,  and  the  fraternity  celebrated  the  cope-stone  with  great  joy,  it  is 
demonstrable  that  none  but  those,  who  had  proved  themselves  to  be 
complete  masters  of  their  profession,  were  admitted  to  this  honor ;  and 
indeed  the  duties  incumbent  on  every  mason,  who  is  accepted  and 
acknowledged  as  a  most  excellent  master,  are  such  as  render  it  indis 
pensable  that  he  should  have  a  correct  knowledge  of  all  the  preceding 
degrees." 

This  degree  contains  a  detail  of  the  ceremony  in  the  celebration  of 
the  passage  of  the  sun  through  the  first  celestial  gate,  the  winter  sol- 
stice, that  is  the  twenty-fifth  day  of  December,  which,  as  we  have  seen, 
was  commemorated  as  the  birth  day  of  the  god  Sol. The  sun  was 

t  An  allusion  to  this  idea  seems  to  be  made  in  the  expression,  "  Who/ehall  ascend  to 
the  hill  of  the.  Lord  7"  or  as  Cole,  in  his  Freemasons'  Library,  has  it,  "  scah  the  mount 
qfGod:' 


-^ 


312  ANALYSIS    OF    FREEMASONRY: 

the  key  or  cope-stone  required  to  complete  (or  rather  to  form)  the  arch ; 
and  this  r-aised  by  masons,  is  a  symbol  of  that  made  by  the  sun  in  the 
heavens,  and  is  commemorative  of  the  commencement  of  his  return  to 
the  upper  hemisphere,  in  which  that  arch  is  formed.  This  degree,  in 
some  measure,  anticipates  the  subject  of  the  royal  arch,  in  which  the 
story  of  the  finding  of  the  lost  sun,  logos  or  word,  is  consummated. 

For  the  purpose  of  opening  the  lodge,  the  brethren  assemble  round 
the  altar,  and  form  a  circle,  leaving  a  space  for  the  master.  All  then 
kneel  and  join  hands,  and  the  master  reads  the  following  passages  from 
scripture : 

"  Psalm  xxiv.  The  earth  is  the  Lord's  and  the  fullness  thereof;  the 
world,  and  they  that  dwell  therein.  For  he  hath  founded  it  upon  the 
seas,  and  established  it  upon  the  floods.  Who  shall  ascend  into  the 
hill  of  the  Lord  ?  or  who  shall  stand  in  his  holy  place  ?  He  that  hath 
clean  hands,  and  a  pure  heart ;  who  hath  not  lifted  up  his  soul  unto 
vanity,  nor  sworn  deceitfully.  He  shall  receive  the  blessing  from  the 
Lord,  and  righteousness  from  the  God  of  his  salvation.  This  is  the 
generation  of  them  that  seek  him,  that  seek  thy  face,  O  Jacob.  Selah. 
Lift  up  your  heads,  O  ye  gates,  and  be  ye  lift  up,  ye  everlasting  doors, 
and  the  King  of  Glory  shall  come  in.  Who  is  this  King  of  Glory? 
The  Lord,  strong  and  mighty.;  the  Lord,  mighty  in  battle.  Lift  up 
your  heads,  O  ye  gates,  even  lift  them  up  ye  everlasting  doors,  and  the 
King  of  Glory  shall  come  in.  Who  is  this  King  of  Glory?  The  Lord 
of  Hosts,  he  is  the  King  of  Glory.     Selah." 

"  2  Chron.  vi.  Then  said  Solomon,  the  Lord  hath  said  that  he  would 
dwell  in  the  thick  darkness.  But  I  have  built  a  house  of  habitation  for 
thee,  and  a  place  for  thy  dwelling  forever.  And  the  king  turned  his 
face,  and  blessed  the  whole  congregation  of  Israel." 

As  the  master  reads  the  words,  "lift  up  your  heads,  O  ye  gates," 
each  brother  raises  his  head ;  and  as  he  continues,  "  and  the  king  of 
glory  shall  come  in,"  he  steps  along  a  few  steps  towards  the  space  left 
for  him  in  the  circle. 

The  foregoing  passage  from  the  Psalms  is  very  appropriate  to  the 
object  of  commemoration  in  this  ceremony.  For,  although  the  Psalm- 
ist alluded  to  the  true  God,  the  language  made  use  of,  would  equally 
apply  to  the  Pagan  god,  the  sun.  The  Abbe  Pluche  observes,  as  before 
noticed,  that  the  tongue  and  religion  of  the  Hebrews,  were  originally  the 
same  as  the  Egyptians:  and,  notwithstanding  the  variations  which 
afterwards  took  place  between  them,  "  the  forms  of  prayer  remained  the 
same."     So  in  this  case,  the  expressions,  the  hill  of  the  Lord ;  the  king 


313 

of  glory ;  the  Lord  mighty  in  battle,  may  be  applied  to  the  course  of 
the  sun;  the  veneration  in  which  he  was  held,  and  his  warsvmdi  victo- 
ries over  Typhon,  the  genius  of  evil.  King,  moreover,  was  one  of  tha 
peculiar  titles  bestowed  upon  Osiris  the  sun.  He  was  denominated^ 
says  Pluche,  "the  leader,  the  king,  the  moderator  of  the  stars,  the  soul 
of  the  world,  the  governor  of  nature."  Besides,  the  term  made  use  of 
above,  Hazis  or  Hesns,  and  translated  Lord,  is  a  pagan  name  of  the 
Deity,  and  answers,  says  the  same  author,  to  the  Warts  or  Mars  of  the 
Sabines  and  Latins. 

So  the  idea  in  Chronicles,  of  the  Ltord^s  dwelling  in  darkness,  might 
anciently,  among  the  pagans,  have  alluded  to  the  sun,  in  the  lower 
hemisphere,  or  enveloped  in  clouds  for  a  time,  in  the  tropic  of  Cancer. 

The  reading  being  ended,  the  master  kneels,  and  joins  hands  with 
the  others,  which  closes  the  circle.  They  then  rise,  disengage  their, 
hands,  and  lift  them  up  above  their  heads;  cast  up  their  eyes,  and  then 
suffer  their  hands  to  fall  by  their  sides. 

This  sign,  it  may  be  presumed,  is  intended  to  express  admiration 
and  gratitude  for  the  return  of  the  sun. 

After  some  further  ceremonies,  the  senior  warden  demands  of  the 
most  excellent,  if  this  be  not  the  day  set  apart  for  the  celebration  of  the 
cope-stone  ?  Which  being  ascertained  to  be  the  fact,  the  brethren  form 
a  procession  double  file,  and  march  six  times  round  the  lodge,  against 
the  course  of  the  sun,  singing  the  following  song: 

All  hail  to  the  morning,  that  bids  us  rejoice; 
'  The  temple's  completed,  exalt  high  each  voice; 

The  cope-stone  is  finished — our  labor  is  o'er, 
The  sound  of  the  gavel  shall  hail  us  no  more. 

*  ♦  *  *       '     *  ♦  * 

Companions,  assemble  on  this  joyful  day. 
The  occasion  is  glorious,  the  key-stone  to  lay; 
Fulfilled  is  the  promise,  by  the  ancient  of  days,* 
To  bring  forth  the  cope-stone,  with  shouting  and  praise. 

******* 

Thy  wisdom  inspired  the  great  Institution; 
Thy  strength  shall  support  it  till  nature  expire; 
And  when  the  creation  shall  fall  into  min. 
Its  beauty  shall  rise  through  the  midst  of  the  fire. 

The  key-stone  is  now  brought  forward,  and  two  pillars  or  columns 
are  set  up,  and  an  arch  placed  on  them,  made  of  plank,  in  imitation  o^ 
block  work ;  in  the  center  of  which  is  a  mortice  left  for  the  reception  of 
Si  key-stone,  which  the  master  takes,  and,  placing  it  in  the  arch,  drives 
it  down,  by  giving  it  six  raps  with  his  gavel. 

♦  This  is  a  title  given  to  I»is. 
40 


314 


ANALYSIS    OP    rREKMABONRY 


The  ark,  which  all  this  time  had  been  carried  round  by  four  of  the 
brethren,  is  now  put  upon  the  altar,  and  a  pot  of  incense  placed  on  it. 

The  members  all  kneel,  and  while  in  this  attitude  the  master  reads 
the  following  passage  of  scripture:  2  Chron.  vii.  1,  4.  Now  when  Solo- 
mon had  made  an  end  of  praying,  the  fire  came  down  from  heaven,  and 
consumed  the  burnt  offering  and  the  sacrifices ;  and  the  glory  of  the 
Lord  filled  the  house,  and  the  priests  could  not  enter  into  the  house  of 
the  Lord,  because  the  glory  of  the  Lord  had  filled  the  Lord's  house. 
And  when  all- the  children  of  Israel  saw  how  the  fire  came  down,  and 
the  glory  of  the  Lord  upon  the  house,  they  bowed  themselves  with  their 
faces  to  the  ground  upon  the  pavement,  and  worshipped  and  praised  the 
Lord,  saying, /of  he  is  good,  for  his  mercy  endureih  forever. 

As  the  master  reads  the  last  clause  of  the  above  extract,  a  brother 
touches  a  piece  of  gum  camphor  to  a  candle,  and  throws  it  into  the  pot 
<?/i7ice/r56,  of  the  same  combustible  matter,  which  stands  on  the  altar 
before  the  kneeling  brethren,  which  immediately  ignites  and  makes  a 
very  brilliant  light. 


Here  the  emblem  of  the  restoration  of  the  lost  sun,  is  too  plain  to 
be  mistaken.  The  reader  may  recollect  the  account,  given  in  a  former 
part  of  this  work,  of  a  similar  ceremony  in  the  ancient  mysteries ;  in 
which,  after  great  lamentation  for  the  loss  of  Adonis  or  Osiris,  the 
sun,  there  was  also  great  joy  at  his  finding.  "  It  is  said,  that  this 
lamentation  was  performed  over  an  image  in  the  night  season ;  and 
when  they  had  sufficiently  lamented,  a  candle  was  brought  into  the 


# 


MOST    EXCELLENT    MASTERS    DEGREE.  315 

rooni,  which  ceremony  might  mystically  denote  the  return  of  the  sun, 
then  the  priest  with  a  soft  voice,  muttered  this  form  of  words, '  Trust  yt 
in  God,  for  out  of 'pains  salvation  is  come  unto  us.^  " 

After  the  above,  the  brethren  all  repeat  in  concert  the  words,  For 
he  is  good,  for  his  mercy  endureth  forever,  six  times,  each  time  bowing 
their  heads  low  towards  the  floor  * 

The  members  then  balance  six  times  as  in  opening,  rise  and  bal- 
ance six  times  more,  and  the  lodge  is  closed. 

Ancient  freemasonry  could  have  no  connection  with  the  Hebrew 
Scriptures,  any  farther  than  they  contained  sentiments  and  expressions 
in  common  use  among  other  nations.  Or  if  the  founders  of  the  institution 
adopted  passages  of  scripture,  they  perverted  them  to  suit  their  own 
peculiar  views.  We  have  seen  that  the  prospect  of  the  return  of  the 
sun  to  the  northern  hemisphere,  caused  great  rejoicings  among  the 
ancient  pagan  nations  ;  and  the  expression,  "  For  he  is  good,  for  his 
mercy  endureth  forever,"  is  peculiarly  applicable  to  that  circumstance. 

The  sentiment  conveyed  in  the  first  verse  of  the  foregoing  song, 
calling  upon  the  brotherhood  to  rejoice  in  consequence  of  having 
arrived  at  the  end  of  their  labors,  is  well  illustrated  in  the  following 
extract  from  Bryant's  mythology,  (vol.  iii.  p.  38.)  which  alludes  to  a 
fact  noticed  above. 

"Part  of  the  ceremony  in  the  Eleusiniau  mysteries  was  a  night 
scene,  attended  with  tears  and  lamentations,  on  account  of  some  person 
who  was  supposed  to  have  been  lost ;  but  at  the  close  a  priest  used  to 
present  himself  to  the  people  who  were  mourning,  and  bid  them  to  be 
of  good  courage,  for  the  Deity  whom  they  lamented  as  lost,  was  pre- 
served; and  that  they  would  now  have  some  comfort,  some  respit  after 
all  their  labor.     To  which  was  added,  I  have  escaped  a  calamity,  and 

♦  The  companions  of  royal  arch,  previously  to  giving  the  grand  omni^c  word,  bal- 
ance three  times  three,  with  their  hands  joined,  bringing  them  down  on  their  knees  nine 
times,  making  a  pause  between  each  three. — Similar  customs  prevail  in  China  at  this 
day,  which  no  doubt  are  derived  from  the  same  source  as  those  of  masonry.  The  fol- 
lowing extract  from  the  Chinese  Courier,  published  at  Canton,  Nov.  1S32,  establishes 
this  fact. 

"  Peking His  Majesty,  a  few  days  ago,  when  worshipping  and  offering  sacri- 
fice on  the  altar  oi  Hwang  Te,  the  Yellow  Emperor,  and  divine  originator  of  agricul- 
ture, drank  the  ^cup  ofbliss,^  and  performed  t\iQ  grand  ceremony  of  thrice  kneeling^  and 
nine  times  putting  his  forehead  to  the  ground. 

It  seems  he  did  not  much  like  it,  for  he  has  censured  the  master  of  the  ceremonies 
for  giving  the  words,  kneel — knock; — kneel — knocks — kneel — knock,  too  slowly.  He 
complains  also,  that  the  man  who  read  the  prayer,  had  but  a  poor  voice,  and  commands 
that  another  be  chosen  who  has  a  strong,  clear  voice,  and  is  perfectly  acquainted  with 
the  detail  of  rites  and  ceremonies. 

On  the  iSth  of  May,  the  Emperor  went  in  person  to  the  altar  of  the  Black  Dragon 
to  pray  for  rain;  and  appointed  select  Budh  priests,  with  several  princes  and  kings,  to 
form  two  parties,  and  alternately  lodge  at  the  temple,  to  continue  their  supplications  till 
rain  should  be  granted. 


#^ 


316  ANALYSIS  or  freemasonry: 

met  with  a  better  portion.  This  is  the  same  rite  as  that  which  was 
called  in  Canaan,  the  death  and  revival  of  Adonis  or  Thamuz,  who  was 
the  Osiris  and  Thamas  of  Egypt." 

Again  the  same  author  observes,  (vol.  3.  p.  179.)  *'  The  principal 
rites  in  Egypt  were  confessedly,  for  a  person  lost,  and  consigned  for  a 
time  to  darkness  ;  who  was  at  last  found.  This  person  I  have  men- 
tioned to  have  been  described  under  the  character  of  Osiris.  Hence 
these  exclamations  at  the  feast  of  Isis  :  Eurekame?i,  Sugcharomen.  [We 
have  found  him,  and  we  rejoice  together.] 

"After  Osiris  had  been  reputed  for  some  time  lost,  it  was  a  custom 
among  the  Egyptians  to  go  in  quest  of  him ;  and  the  process,  as 
described  by  Plutarch,  was  very  remarkable ;  upon  the  nineteenth  of  the 
month,  the  Egyptians  go  down  at  night  to  the  sea:  at  which  time  the 
priests  and  supporters  (the  Paterae)  carry  the  sacred  vehicle.  In  this 
is  a  golden  vessel  in  the  form  of  a  ship,  or  boat,  into  which  they 
pour  some  of  the  river  water.  Upon  this  being  performed  a  shout  of 
joy  is  raised,  and  Osiris  is  supposed  to  be  found." 

The  blaze  of  the  gum-camphor  of  masonry  seems  more  appropri- 
ate than  the  above,  to  typify  the  restoration  of  the  lost  sun. 

The  last  verse  of  the  song  cited  above,  contains  a  beautiful  allusion  to 
the  masonic  trinity;  and  at  the  same  time  forcibly  conveys  the  idea  that 
the  writer  meant  by  the  establishment  oi  the  great  institution,  the  cre- 
ation of  the  world,  planned  by  infinite  wisdom,  supported  by  strength, 
and  adorned  by  beauty. 

Jubilee  at  Rome. 

The  church  of  Rome  practices  a  rite  very  similar  to  that  of  the 
masonic  order  in  laying  the  cope-stone.  It  is  called  the  Jubilee,  and 
the  manner  of  performing  it,  says  Bailey,  is  as  follows : 

"  The  Pope  goes  to  St.  Peter's  church,  to  open  what  they  call  the 
holy  gate,  knocking  at  it  three  times  with  a  golden  hammer,  repeating 
the  19th  verse  of  the  118th  psalm,  "Open  to  me  the  gates  of  righte- 
ousness, and  I  will  go  unto  them  and  praise  the  Lord."  At  this  time 
the  masons  break  down  the  wall,  and  the  pope  kneels  before  it,  while 
the  penatentiaries  of  St  Peter  wash  him  with  holy  water ,  then  taking 
up  the  cross,  he  begins  to  sing  the  Te  Deum,  and  enters  the  church, 
the  clergy  following  him. 

"  In  the  mean  time  the  cardinal  legates  are  sent  to  open  three  other 
holy  gates,  with  the  same  ceremonies,  in  the  churches  of  St.  John  of 
Lateran,  St.  Paul,  and  St.  Mary  the  greater.     This  is  performed  at  the 


>* 


#" 


MOST    EXCELLENT    MASTEr's    DEGREE.  317 

first  vespers  of  Christmas  eve,  and  the  next  morning  the  pope  gives  his 
benediction  to  the  people,  in  the  Jubilee  form.  When  the  holy  year  is 
ending,  they  shut  the  gates  again  in  the  following  manner :  the  pope 
after  he  has  blessed  the  stones  and  mortar,  lays  the  first  stone,  and 
leaves  there  twelve  boxes  of  gold  and  silver  medals. 

"  Formerly  much  people  resorted  from  all  parts  to  Rome,  to  enjoy 
the  benefits  of  the  jubilee,  but  now-a-days  but  few,  except  those  who 
dwell  in  Italy,  the  pope  allowing  them' to  observe  the  Jubilee  in  their 
own  country,  granting  the  same  benefits  as  if  they  came  to  Rome." 

There  can  be  no  possible  meaning  in  this  ceremony,  unless  an 
astronomical  bearing  be  attributed  to  it,  by  considering  the  four  gates 
as  symbols  of  the  equinoctial  and  solstitial  points,  which  by  the  pagans 
were  denominated  gates  of  heaven ;  and  through  which  souls  were 
supposed  to  pass  to  arrive  at  the  mansions  of  bliss.  And  as  the  popes 
hold  the  keys  of  these  gates,  it  is  kind  in  them  occasionally  to  open 
them,  in  order  to  admit  a  few  at  least  of  their  own  flock. 

The  twelve  boxes  of  medals  deposited  by  his  holiness,  are  emblem- 
atical of  the  twelve  signs  of  the  zodiac  ;  which  he,  perhaps  considers, 
as  resting  places  on  his  celestial  turnpike. 

This  farce  is  still  continued  at  Rome,  of  which  a  late  traveler  in 
Italy,  gives  the  following  account : 

Closing  the  holy  door. 

At  four  o'clock  on  the  day  of  the  Jubilee,  the  sound  of  trumpets 
was  heard  ;  in  the  midst  of  a  procession  which  issued  from  the  church 
passing  through  the  holy  door,  was  his  holiness  the  pope,  clothed 
in  white  robes,  and  wearing  a  golden  mitre.  He  seated  himself  on  his 
white  throne,  and  remained  quiet  for  a  minute  or  two.  He  then  descended 
from  his  throne  and  performed  some  ceremonies  or  mummeries.  I  sin- 
cerely pitied  the  poor  old  man,  he  looked  the  picture  of  death,  and  had 
been  raised  from  his  bed  to  personate  St.  Peter ;  he  appeared  to  sink 
under  the  weight  of  his  robes ;  his  cumbrous  mitre  oppressed  his 
aching  head  ;  he  raised  his  heavy  eyes  and  held  up  his  skinny  fingers^ 
and  seemed  to  say, — "  How  painful  are  hypocrisy,  folly,  and  fraud,  to 
a  sick  and  dying  man."  The  cardinals  came  about  him  in  a  fawning 
manner,  and  changed  for  him  a  part  of  his  dress.  At  the  closing  of  the 
holy  door,  we  were  somewhat  disappointed.  We  beheld  only  the  feeble 
pattering  of  an  impotent  old  man  :  he  blessed  the  golden  trowel  and  its 
handle  of  mother-of pearl;  he  blessed  the  mortar  and  the  bricks.  He 
contrived  to  lay  three  bricks  in  the  holy  door-way,  using  his  holy  mor- 
tar sparingly  as  though  it  were  lip-salve.     The  door-way  being  then 


318  ANALYSIS  OF  freemasonry: 

closed,  a  white  satin  curtain,  decorated  with  a  cross  in  golden  embroi- 
dery, was  drawn  over  it.  The  holy  father,  with  as  much  theatrical 
jesticulation  as  he  was  capable  of,  gave  his  blessing,  which  concluded 
the  farce  of  closing  the  holy  door. 

The  opening  and  closing  of  the  holy  gates  or  doors,  must  be  an 
annual  ceremony,  and  therefore  differs  from  what  is  generally  called 
the  Jubilee. 

Jubilees  were  formerly  celebrated,  by  the  Jews,  every  fiftieth  year. 
Pope  Sextus  IV.  in  1475,  appointed  it  to  be  held  every  twenty-fifth 
year,  to  give  a  greater  chance  for  every  person  to  receive  the  benefit  of 
it  once  in  his  life.  They  afterwards  became  more  frequent,  and  the 
popes  granted  them  as  ofien  as  the  church,  or  themselves,  had  occasion 
for  them.  There  is  usually  one  at  the  inauguration  of  a  new  pope. 
At  these  Jubilees,  the  pope  grants  full  pardon  to  all  sinners  who  are 
present  at  their  celebration. — See  Rees'  Cycl. 

We  have  seen  in  the  masonic  ceremonies  a  constant  reiteration  of 
the  number  three,  and  sometimes  thrice  repeated,  which  is  called  giv- 
ing the  grand  honors  of  masonry.  There  must  have  been  some  cause 
or  reason  for  this  custom,  now  unknown.  And  I  will  venture  to  say  that, 
(as  suggested  by  the  author  of  the  Defence  of  Freemasonry,  before 
noticed,)  its  original  intention  was  in  honor  and  out  of  reverence  to  the 
ancient  trinity.  The  practice  seems  to  be  kept  up  by  the  church  of 
Rome,  which  goes  to  corroborate  this  opinion.  One  of  the  rules  estab- 
lished by  the  reverend  mother  abbess  of  the  Ursuline  Convent  at 
Charlestown,  as  reported  by  Miss  Reed,  one  of  the  novices  in  that  insti- 
tution, is,  "  before  entering  the  room  to  give  three  knocks  on  the  door, 
accompanied  with  some  religious  ejaculation,  and  wait  until  they  are 
answered  by  three  from  within."  The  mason  will  see  that  this  is  an 
exact  copy  of  his  rules  and  practice. 

The  reader  has  observed,  that  the  number  six,  in  the  degree  under 
consideration,  is  particularly  respected.  In  the  opening  scene  of  ini- 
tiations, not  noticed  above,  the  candidate  is  prepared  with  a  rope  wound 
six  times  round  his  body,  and  is  then  conducted  to  the  door  of  the  lodge, 
against  which  he  gives  six  distinct  knocks,  which  are  answered  by  the 
same  number  from  within  ;  and  when  admitted,  he  is  walked  six  times 
round  the  lodge,  moving  with  the  sun.  On  the  contrary,  the  brethren 
more  advanced,  form  a  procession,  as  above  stated,  and  march  six  times 
round  the  lodge,  against  the  course  of  the  sun.  Masons  from  habit 
pass  through  these  ceremonies,  without  stopping  to  examine  into  their 
meaning  and  original  intention. 

The  Druids  also  paid  great  veneration  to  the  number  six.      "As  to 


819 

what  remains,  says  Mayo, — vol.  ii.  p.  239,  respecting  the  superstitions 
of  the  Druids,  I  know  not  what  was  the  foundation  of  the  religious 
respect  which  they  had  for  the  number  six  ;  but  it  is  certain  they  pre- 
ferred it  to  all  other  numbers.  It  was  the  sixth  day  of  the  moon,  that 
they  performed  their  principal  ceremonies  of  religion,  and  that  they 
began  the  year.  They  went  six  in  number  to  gather  the  Misseltoe; 
and  in  monuments  now  extant,  we  often  find  six  of  these  priests 
together." 

In  every  movement  of  the  masonic  order  we  discover  traits  of  its 
derivation  from  a  religion  founded  on  astronomy.  The  Egyptians  wor- 
shiped astronomy.  They  were  the  first  people  known  to  have 
acquired  a  knowledge  of  it.  Their  priests,  shut  up  in  the  labyrinth, 
had  nothing  else  to  do  but  to  study  the  movements  of  the  heavenly  bodies, 
and  they  communicated  their  discoveries  in  such  a  manner  as  to  be 
incomprehensible   to  the  common  people. 

So  in  masonry,  the  novice  is  marched  round  the  lodge  in  conform, 
ity  to  the  apparent  movement  of  the  sun  ;  but  afterwards  the  direction 
of  the  procession  is  reversed,  showing  that  this  appearance  is  produced 
by  the  actual  movement  of  the  earth,  from  west  to  east,  round  the  sun. 
But  this  explanation  is  not  given,  and  consequently  the  purport  of  the 
ceremony  is  not  understood  by  the  brethren. 

Making  the  processions  six  times  round  the  lodge,  is  in  honor  of 
the  six  benevolent  divirrities  of  the  upper  hemisphere.  Volney,  in 
treating  of  the  notion  the  Persians  had  of  the  future  world,  and  that 
paradise  is  placed  under  the  equator,  with  this  singular  attribute,  that 
in  it  the  blessed  cast  no  shade,  observes,  "  There  is  on  this  subject  a 
passage  in  Plutarch  so  interesting  and  explanatory  of  the  whole  of  this 
system,  that  we  shall  cite  it  entire ;  having  observed  that  the  theory  of 
good  and  evil  had  at  all  times  occupied  the  attention  of  naturalists  and 
theologians,  he  adds:  'Many  suppose  there  are  two  gods  of  opposite 
inclinations,  one  delighting  in  good,  the  other  in  evil ;  the  first  of  these 
is  called  particularly  by  the  name  of  God,  the  second  by  that  of  Genius 
or  Demon.  Zoroaster  has  denominated  them  Oromaze  and  Ahri- 
manes,  and  has  said  that  of  whatever  falls  under  the  cognizance  of  our 
senses,  light  is  the  best  representative  of  the  one,  and  darkness  and 
ignorance  of  the  other.  He  adds  that  Mithra  is  an  intermediate  being, 
and  it  is  for  this  reason  that  the  Persians  call  Mithra  the  Mediator  or 
intercessor. 

'  The  Persians  also  say  that  Oromaze  was  born  or  formed  out  of  the 
purest  light ;  Ahrimanes  on  the  contrary,  out  of  the  thickest  darkness, 


320  ANALYSIS    OF    FREEMASONRY: 

that  Oromaze  made  six  gods  as  good  as  himself,  and  Ahrimanes 
opposed  to  them  six  wicked  ones.  That  afterwards  Oromaze  trebled 
himself  (Hertnes  tris-megistus,)  and  removed  to  a  distance  remote  from 
the  earth  ;  that  he  there  formed  stars,  and  among  others,  Syrius,  which 
he  placed  in  the  heavens  as  a  guard  and  sentinel.  He  made  also 
twenty-four  other  gods  whom  he  inclosed  in  an  egg;  but  Ahrimanes 
created  an  equal  number  who  cracked  the  egg,  and  from  that  moment 
good  and  evil  were  mixed,  (in  the  universe.)  But  Ahrimanes  is  one 
day  to  be  conquered,  and  the  earth  to  be  made  equal  and  smooth,  that 
all  men  may  live  happy." 

Royal  Arch  Degree. 

The  royal  arch  degree  seems  not  to  have  been  known  to  what  are 
called  modern  masons  as  late  as  about  1750.  That  portion  of  the  old 
freemasons  who  met  at  the  famous  Apple  Tree  tavern,  in  1717,  and 
formed  the  society  upon  somewhat  new  principles  ;  that  is,  so  far  as  to 
admit  into  fellowship  indiscriminately  respectable  individuals  of  all 
professions,  were  denominated  by  the  non-adherents  to  this  plan,  mod- 
ern masons.  This  affair  caused  the  division  of  the  masonic  society 
into  two  parties,  which  continued  till  1813,  nearly  one  hundred  years. 
To  the  rivalry  occasioned  by  this  schism,  masonry,  it  is  presumed,  is 
mainly  indebted  for  the  great  celebrity  it  has  obtained  in  the  world. 

It  appears,  that  the  non-conformists  to  this  new  scheme,  who  con- 
sidered themselves  the  orthodox  party,  by  rummaging  among  the  old 
records  of  the  order,  first  discovered  the  royal  arch  degree,  which  had 
probably  lain  dormant  for  centuries.  During  which  time,  it  would 
appear,  the  society  had  been  confined  almost  exclusively  to  operative 
masons  ;  who  continued  the  ceremonies  only  of  the  appr^ptice,  fellow- 
craft  or  journeyman,  and  master  mason,  these  being  deemed  appropri- 
ate to  their  occupation. 

This  fact  Dermott  proves,  by  the  production  of  an  answer  of  a  Mr- 
Spencer,  one  of  the  grand  secretaries  of  a  lodge  of  modern  masons,  to 
an  application  of  W.  C,  a  petitioner  from  Ireland ;  which  is  as  fol- 
lows : 

"  Your  being  an  ancient  mason,  you  are  not  entitled  to  any  of  our 
charity.  The  ancient  masons  have  a  lodge  at  the  Five  Bells  in  the 
Strand,  and  their  secretary's  name  is  Dermott. — Our  society  is  neither 
arch,  royal  arch,  nor  ancient,  so  that  you  have  no  right  to  partake  of 
our  charity." 

*•  Such  (says  Dermott)  was  the  character  given  of  them  by  their  own 


ROYAL    ARCH    DEGREli:.  821 

grand  secretary,  about  fourteen  years  ago." — Dermott  published   his 
book  in  1764. 

If  the  knowledge  communicated  in  this  degree  had  not  been  recov- 
ered, the  loss  to  the  society  would  have  been  incalculable,  provided  its 
value  be  not  overrated  in  the  following  estimation  of  it  by  masonic 
writers  : 

Webb  says,  "  This  degree  is  indescribably  more  august,  sublime,  and 
important,  than  all  which  precede  it ;  and  is  the  summit  and  perfec' 
Hon  of  ancient  masonry.  It  impresses  on  our  minds  a  belief  of  the 
being  and  eziste7ice  of  a  Supreme  Deity,  without  beginning  of  days  or 
end  of  years ;  and  reminds  us  of  the  reverence  due  to  his  holy  name." 
Dermott  calls  it  the  root,  heart,  and  marrow  of  masonry. 

Cole  adopts  the  following  sentiment  of  a  brother  mason : — "  In  the  R. 
A.  [royal  arch]  mason's  degree  I  beheld  myself  exalted  to  the  top  of 
Pisgah,  an  extensive  scene  opened  to  my  view  of  the  glory  and  goodness 
of  the  M.  E.  H.  P.  [m.ost  excellent  high  priest]  of  our  salvation.  I  dug 
deep  for  hidden  treasures,  found  them,  and  regained  the  omnific  word.^ 

"  If  we  pass  on  to  the  royal  arch,  (says  the  Rev.  G.  Oliver,  in  his 
Lvctures  on  Freemasonry,)  we  receive  a  wonderful  accession  of  know- 
ledge, and  find  every  thing  made  perfect ;  for  this  is  the  ne  plus  ultra  of 
masonry,  and  can  never  be  exceeded  by  any  human  institution." 

By  th«  manner  in  which  this  subject  is  treated,  it  would  seem  that  a 
mason  is  supposed  to  be  ignorant  of  the  existence  of  the  one  Supreme 
Being  till  admitted  into  the  royal  arch.  This  arises  from  copying  after 
an  institution  established  when  this  doctrine  was  not  taught  to  the 
common  people.  Polytheism  w^as  the  prevailing  religion.  The  one 
Supreme  was  revealed  only  to  a  select  number  who  were  initiated 
into  the  greater  mysteries,  the  royal  arch  of  the  ancients. 

The  members  of  this  degree  are  denominated  companions,  and  are 
"entitled  to  a  full  explanation  of  the  mysteries  of  the  order;"  whereas, 
in  the  former  degrees  they  are  recognized  by  the  common,  familiar 
appellation  of  brothers,  and  kept  in  a  state  of  profound  ignorance  of"  the 
sublime  secret  which  is  disclosed  in  this  chapter.  This  accords  with 
the  custom  of  J^ythagoras;  who  thus  distinguished  his  pu|  ils.  After  a 
probation  of  five  years,  as  before  s:ated,  they  were  admiited  in'o  the 
presence  of  the  preceptor,  called  his  co7}ivanions,  and  permitted  freely 
to  converse  with  him.  Previously  to  the  expiration  of  that  term,  he 
delivered  his  instructions  to  them  from  behind  a  screen. 

The  royal  arch  degree  owes  its  title  to  the  imaginary  arch  made  in  the 
heavens  by  the  course  of  king  Osiris,  the  sun,  from  the  vernal  to  the 

41 


322 


ANALYSIS    OF    FREEMASONilV 


autumnal  equinox.  The  signs  through  which  he  passes  in  forming 
this  semicircle,  including  those  of  the  equinoxes,  being  seven,  the 
number  of  grades  or  steps  required  to  be  taken  by  the  mason,  to  entitle 
him  to  the  honors  of  this  degree. 

This  order  is  called  a  chapter,  which  requires  7iinc  officers  ;  the 
principal  of  which  are  three,  who  compose  what  is  called  the  grand 
council,  and  one  denominated  captain  of  the  host. 

There  is,  or  should  be,  when  convenient,  an  organ  in  the  room  in 
which  the  chapter  is  held.  The  companions  enter  the  chapter  in  pro- 
cession. At  the  entrance  each  gives  the  sign  o^  sorrow,  which  is  done 
hy  bowing  the  head  and  body,  placing  the  right  hand  on  the  forehead- 
This  sign  is  repeated  as  they  approach  the  ahar.  They  then  place 
their  scepters  in  their  left  hands,  with  the  right  on  the  left  breast,  and 
make  the  following  declaration : — In  the  beginning  was  the  word  :  and 
the  word  was  with  God  :  and  the  tvord  was  God.  The  sign  oi  sorroio 
is  now  given  the  third  time,  and  each  advances  to  his  proper  place- 
They  are  so  arranged  as  to  form  an  arch  or  semicircle. — [Carlile.] 

The  sorrow  here  expressed,  is  an  imitation  of  that  of  the  ancients 
for  the  loss  of  the  word,  logos,  or  Osiris,  personated  by  Hiram.  The 
use  of  the  organ  agrees  with  the  ancient  manner  of  celebrating  the 
orgies,  and  is  in  accordance  with  the  custom  of  the  Pythagorean  school. 
The  semicircle  formed  by  the  companions,  confirms  my  opinion  in 
regard  to  the  name  of  this  degree. 

The  grand  council  consists  of  the  most  excellent  high  priest,  king^ 
and  holy  scribe.  The  high  priest  is  dressed  in  a  white  robe,  with  a 
breast-plate  of  cut  glass,  consisting  of  twelve  pieces,  [to  represent  the 
twelve  signs  of  the  zodiac,]  an  apron  and  a  miter.  The  king  wears  a 
scarlet  robe,  apron  and  crown.  The  miter  and  crown  are  generally 
made  of  pasteboard  ;  sometimes  they  are  made  of  most  sprendid  materi- 
als, gold  and  silver  velvet;  but  these  are  kept  for  public  occasions. 
1  he  miter  has  the  words  Holiness  to  the  Lord,  in  gold  letters,  across 
the  forehead,     The  scribe  wears  a  pUrple  robe,  apron  and  turban. 


The  color  of  the  robes  woni  by  the  respective  members  of  the  grand  council,  the 
reader  may  be  assured,  has  not  been  fixed  upon  through  the  mere  fancy  of  the  masonic 
order.  There  must  be  a  mythological  authority  to  sanction  it — -The  ancient  astrologers, 
says  the  most  learned  of  the  Jews,  (Maimonides,)  having  consecrated  to  each  planet  a 
color,  an  animal,  a  tree,  a  metal,  a  fruit,  a  plant,  formed  from  them  all  a  figure  or  repre- 
sentation of  the  star,  taking  care  to  select  for  the  purpose  a  proper  moment,  a  fortunate 
day,  such  as  the  conjunction  or  some  other  favorable  aspect ;  they  conceived  that  by 
their  (magic)  ceremonies  they  could  introduce  into  those  figures  or  idols  the  influences 
of  the  superior  beings  after  which  they  were  modelled.    These  were  the  idols  that  the 


ROYAL    ARCH    DEGREE.  123 

Chaldean  Sabeans  adored ;  and  in  the  performance  of  their  worship  they  were  obhged 

to  be  dressed  in  the    proper  color .     Thus,  the  astrologers,  by  their  practices 

introduced  idolatry,  desirous  of  being  regarded  as  the  dispensers  of  the  favors  of 
heaven. 

"The  Egyptians,  says  Porphyry,  call  Kneph,  the  intelligence  or  efficient  cause  (of 
the  universe.)  They  represent  him  under  the  form  of  a  man  in  deep  blue,  (the  color  of 
the  sky,)  having  in  his  hand  a  sceptre,  a  belt  round  his  body,  and  a  small  bonnet  royal 
of  light  feathers  on  his  head,  to  denote  how  very  subtile  and  fugacious  the  idea  of  that 
being  is."  Upon  which  I  shall  observe  that  Kneph  in  Hebrew  signifies  a  wing,  a  feather, 
and  that  this  color  of  sky  blue  is  to  be  found  in  the  majority  of  the  Indian  gods,  and  is, 
under  the  name  of  narayan,  one  of  their  most  distinguished  epithets. — See  Ruins,  p. 
230-234 

Porphyry,  I  presume,  is  mistaken  in  supposing  this  god  dressed  in  blue,  to  be  Kneph; 
for  as  he  was  the  Supreme  God  of  the  Egyptians,  his  proper  dress  would  be  white. 

"  The  Roman  Catholic  cardinals,  (says  Mr.  Buck,  in  his  Theol.  Diet.)  dress  in  scar- 
let, to  signify,  that  they  ought  to  be  ready  to  shed  their  blood  for  the  faith  and  church, 
when  the  defence  and  honor  of  either  require  it."  This,  I  imagine,  is  a  mer-e  conjec- 
ture, and  not  founded  in  fact.  The  custom,  has,  doubtless,  an  astronomical  bearing. 
The  pope,  on  gala  days,  is  clothed  in  a  ^chite  robe,  wearing  a  golden  miter,  and  is 
seated  on  his  white  throne  ;  and  as  the  cardinals  are  second  in  rank,  like  the  king  in 
the  royal  arch,  their  appropriate  color  is,  no  doubt,  scarlet. 

The  habit  required  for  the  person  representing  the  sunj  in  the  Dyonisian  mysteries, 
says  Taylor,  is  thus  described  in  the  Orphic  verses  preserved  by  Macrobeus  in  the  first 
book  of  his  Saturnalia,  cap.  18. 

He  who  desires  in  pomp  of  sacred  dress 

The  sun's  resplendent  body  to  express. 

Should  first  a  veil  assume  of  purple  bright, 

Like  fair  white  beams  combin'd  with  fiery  light : 

On  his  right  shoulder,  next,  a  mule's  broad  hide, 

Widely  diversifi'd  with  spotted  pride 

Should  hang,  an  image  of  the  pole  divine. 

And  daedal  stars,  whose  orbs  eternal  shine. 

A  golden  splendid  zone,  then,  o'er  the  vest 

He  next  should  throw,  and  bind  it  round  his  breast; 

In  mighty  token,  how  with  golden  light, 

The  rising  sun,  from  earth's  last  bounds  and  night 

Sudden  emerges,  and,  with  matchless  force. 

Darts  through  old  Ocean's  billows  in  his  course. 

A  boundless  splendor  hence,  enshrin'd  in  dew, 

Plays  on  his  whirlpools,  glorious  to  the  view ; 

While  his  circumfluent  waters  spread  abroad, 

Full  in  the  presence  of  the  radiant  god: 

But  Ocean's  circle,  like  a  zone  of  light. 

The  sun's  wide  bosom  girds,  and  charms  the  wond'ring  sight. 

Eleus.  and  Bac.  Myst.  p.  160. 

The  officers  and  companions  of  the  chapter  being  stationed,  the 
high  priest  says,  companions,  I  am  about  to  open  a  chapter  of  royal 
arch  masons,  and  will  thank  you  for  your  attention  and  assistance.  If 
there  is  any  person  present  who  is  not  a  royal  arch  mason,  he  is 
requested  to  retire.  Companion  captain  of  the  host,  the  first  care  of 
congregated  masons? — Captain.  To  see  the  tabernacle  duly  guarded. 
High  priest.  Attend  to  that  part  of  your  duty.  The  captain  of  the 
host  stations  the  guard  at  the  outside  of  the  door,  gives  him  his  orders, 
closes  the  door,  and  makes  an  alarm  of  three  times  three,  on  the  inside, 
to  ascertain  that  the  guard  is  on  his  post;  the  guard  answers  by  nine 


324  ANALYSIS    OF    JTREEMASONRT  : 

corresponding  raps  ;  the  captain  then  gives  one,  and  the  guard  doe 
the  Same.  He  then  reports  that  the  chapter  is  duly  guarded,  by  a 
companion  of  this  degree  at  the  outer  avenue,  with  a  druwn  svvoid  in 
his  hand.  The  high  priett  then  gives  two  raps  with  his  gavel,  und 
asks  the  following  qutslions:  Captain  of  the  ho^t,  are  you  a  royal  arch 
mason  ? — I  am,  that  I  am.  How  shall  I  know  you  to  be  a  royal  arch 
mason  ? — By  three  limes  three.  He  thus  proceeds,  as  is  done  in  the 
other  degrees,  to  demand  the  stations  and  duties  of  the  officers  of  the 
chapter ;  which  are  as  follows  : 

The  captain  of  the  host  is  stationed  at  the  right  hand  of  the  grand 
council,  to  receive  their  orders,  and  see  them  duly  executed. 

The  station  of  the  principal  sojourner  is  ,at  the  left  hand  of  the 
grand  council,  to  bring  the  blind,  by  a  way  ,they  know  not,  to  lead 
them  in  paths  they  have  not  known,  lo  make  darkness  light  before 
them,  and  crooked  things  straight* 

The  duties  of  the  two  last  mentioned  officers,  in  the  ancient  myste- 
ries, appertain  to  one  character,  Mercury,  who  was  the  messenger  of 
the  gods,  and  the  conductor  of  souls  to  the  other  world,  through  the 
dark  regions  below. 

The  royal  arch,  like  the  greater  mysteries,  contains  a  scenical 
representation  of  a  journey  from  this  world  lo  the  next.  In  the  way 
are  four  guarded  passes,  called  vails,  emblematical  of  the  equinoxes 
and  solstices,  allegorically  denominated  gales  of  heaven,  through 
which  lies  the  sun's  course. 

Three  of  the  officeis  stationed  at  these  pcssts,  are  called  grand 
masters  of  the  first,  second,  and  third  vail ;  \\ho  require  certain  tokens 
at.d  p-tss-words  cf  the  candidates  on  their  admission  thnugh  them. 
The  Iburth  officer  is  styhd  royal  arch  captain.  He  is  stationed  at  the 
inner  vail,  or  entrance  of  the  sanctum  sanctorum,  to  gujird  the  tame, 
and  see  that  none  pass  but  such  as  are  duly  qualified,  and  have  the 
prope r  pass-words  and  signet  of  truth.  The  colors  of  their  several 
banners  are,  the  first  blue,  the  second  purple,  the  third  red,  and  the 

♦  In  the  lower  degrees,  ihe  doty  of  messenger,  as  well  as  thai  of  regulating  and 
cotiHucting  the  ceremonies,  is  performed  by  two  officers  who  are  denominated  deacons. 
These,  like  the  rest  of  the  masonic  drama,  I  find  to  be  astronomical  characters.  "The 
ancient  Egy|tian»,  says  the  astrologer  Julius  Firmicns,  (Astron.  Lib.  2,  c.  4,)  divide 
each  sign  <.f  the  zodiac  into  three  sections;  and  each  section  was  under  the  direction  of 
an  imaginary  being  whom  thcy^calkd  Dtcan,  or  chief  of  ten  :  so  that  there  were  three 
dccans  in  a  month,  and  ihirty-sfx  in  a  year.  Now,  these  decans,  who  were  also  called 
gods.  (Thf  O),)  regiila"  d  the  destinies  of  mankind, — and  were  placed  particularly  in  cer- 
ain  stars."    (Ruins  p,  237.) 

In  the  C(  urse  of  time,  a  trifling  variation  in  the  orthography  of  the  name  of  these 
offxers,  adnuiang  of  little  or  none  in  the  pronunciation,  has  taken  place.  The  duties 
of  the  dccans  anc  those  of  the  deacons  are  sufficiently  allied  to  identify  them. 
**  Among  the  Greeks,  those  youths  who  served  the  tables  were  called  diaconoi,  dea» 
consi  that  is  ministers,  attendants."    (Calmei's  Diet.) 


ROYAL    ARCH    DEGREE.  325 

fourth  white;  which  have  the  same  astronomical  reference  as  the 
dresses  of  the  grand  council.  The  white  banner,  as  masonry  asserts,  is 
emblematical  of  that  ^wri/y  of  heart,  and  rectitude  o^  conduct,  which  is 
essentia]  lo  obtain  admission  mio  the  divine  sanctum  sanctorum  above. 
In  the  duty  assigned  to  the  royal  arch  captain,  there  is  evidently  an 
allusion  to  that  required  of  the  "severe  and  incorruptible  boatman, 
Charon ;"  who  was  prohibited  from  transporting  souls  across  the  lake 
or  river  Acheron  to  the  Elysian  fields,  the  heaven  of  the  ancients, 
without  the  signet  of  the  judges,  who  were  appointed  to  examine  into 
the  characters  of  the  deceased,  and  to  allow  or  withhold  their  permis- 
sion accordingly. — "  To  arrive  at  Tartarus,  or  Elysium,  souls  were 
obliged  to  cross  the  rivers  Styx  and  Acheron,  in  the  boat  of  the  ferry- 
man Charon,  and  to  pass  throu.gh  the  gates  of  horn  or  ivory,  guarded 
by  the  dog  Cerberus."     (Ruins  p.  148.) 

Nine  companions  must  be  present  at  the  opening  of  a  royal  arch 
chapter.  Not  more  nor  less  than  three  are  permitted  to  take  this 
degree  at  the  same  time.  The  candidates  are  prepared  by  tying  a 
bandage  over  their  eyes,  and'coiling  a  rope  seven  times  round  the  body 
of  each,  which  unites  them  tpgether,  with  three  feet  of  slack  rope 
between  them. 

Thus  prepared,  they  are  led  into  the  roj-al  ai"ch  chapter  ;  which, 
they  are  told,  is  dedicated  to  enlighten  those  that  are  in  darkness,  and 
to  show  forth  the  way,  the  truth,  and  the  lift.  ^ 

'  On  entering  the  chapter  they  pass  under  what  is  called  a  living 
arch,  which  is  formed  by  a  number  of  companions  arranging  them- 
selves on  both  sides  of  the  door,  each  joining  hands  with  the  one  oppo- 
site to  himself.  The  conductor  says,  stoop  low,  brothers;  remember 
that  he  that  humbleth  himself  shall  be  exalted  ;  stoop  low,  brothers, 
stoop  low;  we  are  about  to  enter  the  arch;  which  is  raised  up  for 
him,  but  lowered  when  the  candidates  come  under  it.  They  seldom 
pass  the  first  pair  of  hands  without  being  obliged  to  support  themselves 
on  their  hands  and  knees.  Their  progress  may  well  be  imagined  to 
be  very  slow  ;  for,  notwithstanding  their  humble  condition,  they  are 
under  the  necessity  of  sustaining  on  their  backs,  nearly  the  whole 
weight  of  the  living  arch  above.  The  conductor,  to  encourage  them, 
calls  out' occasionally,  stoop  low,  brothers,  stoop  low!  If  they  go  too 
slow  to  suit  the  companions,  it  is  not  unusual  for  some  one  to  apply  a 
sharp  point  to  their  bodies,  to  urge  them  on ;  after  they  have  endured 
this  humiliating  exercise  as  long  as  suits  the  convenience  of  the  com- 
panions, they  pass  from  under  the  living  arch. 


*iJ- 


326  ANALYSIS   OF    FREEMASONRY. 

The  reader  will  readily  perceive,  that  this  scene  is  an  imitation  of 
the  trials  of  the  greah^r  mysteries :  and  although  a  faint  one,  the  like- 
ness is  too  apparent  to  be  mistaken.  It  was  anciently  a  religious  rite* 
and  the  ceremony  has  outlived  the  principle  that  produced  it. 

Having  got  through  the  arch,  the  candidates  are  conducted  once 
round  the  chapter,  and  directed  to  kneel  at  the  altar  to  receive  the  obli- 
gation.  The  principal  sojourner  then  thus  addresses  them :  Brethren, 
as  you  advance  in  masonry,  your  obligation  becomes  more  binding. 
You  are  now  kneeling  at  the  altar  for  the  seventh  time,  and  about  to 
take  a  solemn  oath  or  obligation:  if  you  are  willing  to  proceed,  say 
after  me : 

I,  A.  B.,  of  my  own  free  will  and  accord,  in  presence  of  Almighty 
God,  and  this  chapter  of  royal  arch  masons,  erected  to  God,  and  dedi- 
cated to  Zerubbabel,  do  hereby,  etc.  At  the  conclusion  of  the  oath,  the 
candidates  kiss  the  book  seven  times. 

Here  the  farce  of  dedication  to  St.  John,  which  was  originally 
intended  as  a  sheer  hoax  upon  the  mystics  of  the  minor  degress,  is  no 
longer  continued.  - 1  shall  hereafter  endeavor  to  analyze  the  name  of 
Zerubbabel. 

The  candidates  are  now  conducted  once  round  the  chapter,  and 
directed  to  kneel  ;  while  the  sojourner  reads  a  prayer.  (See  Webb's 
Monitor,  p.  134.) 

After  prayer,  the  principal  sojourner  says,  '  Companions,  arise,  and 
follow  me.' 

He  conducts  them  once  round  the  chapter,  during  which  time  he 
reads  from  Exodus,  iii.  1 — 6. 

*  Now  Moses  kept  the  flock  of  Jethro,  his  father-in-law,  the  priest  of 
Midian  ;  and  he  led  the  Hock  to  the  back  side  of  the  desert,  and  came  to 
the  mountain  of  God,  even  Horeb.  And  the  angel  of  the  Lord 
appeared  unto  him  in  a  flame  of  fire,  out  of  the  midst  of  the  bush  ;  and 
he  looked,  and  behold  the  bush  burned  with  fire,  and  the  bush  was  not 
consumed.' 

By  the  time  this  reading  is  ended,  the  candidates  have  arrived  in 
front  of  a  representation  of  the  burning  bush,  placed  in  a  corner  of  the 
chapter:  when  the  principal  sojourner  directs  them  to  halt,  and  slips 
up  the  bandage  from  theii\eyes. 

A  companion  who  performs  this  part  of  the  scene,  viz  :  personating 
Deity,    steps    behind  the    burning  bush,    and  calls   out   vehemently, 

*  Moses  !  Moses  ! !'    The  principal  sojourner  answers  for  the  candidates, 

*  Here  am  I.' 


ROrAL    ARCH    DEGREE,  327 

The  companion  behind  the  bush  excluims  still  more  vehemently, 
'  Draw  not  nigh  hither;  put  off  thy  shoes  from  off  thy  feet,  for  the  place 
where  thou  standest  is  holy  ground.  [Their  shoes  are  now  taken  off.] 
I  am  the  God  of  thy  fathers,  the  God  of  Abraham,  the  God  of  Isaac, 
and  the  God  of  Jacob.' 

The  principal  sojourner  then  directs  them  to  kneel  down  and  cover 
their  faces,  and  says,  '  And  Moses  hid  his  face,  for  he  was  afraid  to 
look  upon  God.' 

The  principal  sojourner  then  says  to  the  candidates,  '  Arise  and  fol- 
low me,'  and  leads  them  three  times  jound  the  chapter,  during  which 
time  he  reads  from  2  Chorn.  c.  36 — v.  11 — 20. 

The  terror  in  which  the  initiated  into  the  ancient  mysteries  were 
thrown,  by  the  counterfeiting  of  thunder,  lightning,  etc.,  is  here  imita- 
ted. This  occurs  after  the  words,  "and  brake  down  the  walls  of  Jeru. 
salem;"  the  companions  then  make  a  tremendous  noise,  by  firing 
pistols,  clashing  swords,  overturning  chairs,  rolling  cannon  balls 
across  the  floor,  etc.  The  candidates  being  blindfolded,  must  of  course 
be  surprised  and  terrified  at  such  a  scene. 

In  the  meantime,  the  candidates  are  thrown  down,  bound,  and 
dragged  out  into  the  preparation  room,  and  the  door  closed.  «  On  being 
brought  again  into  the  chapter,  they  pass  under  the  living  arch. 
This  is  formed  on  one  side  of  the  hall  or  chapter ;  on  the  other  side 
is  what  is  called  the  rugged  road,  which  is  generally  made  of  blocks  of 
wood,  old  chairs,  benches,  etc.  The  conductor  consoles  the  candi- 
dates, by  observing,  this  is  the  way  many  great  and  good  men  have 
traveled  before  you  ;  never  deeming  it  derogatory  to  their  dignity  to 
level  themselves  with  the  fraternity.  I  have  often  traveled  this  road 
from  Babylon  to  Jerusalem,  and  generally  find  it  rough  and  rugged^ 
However,  I  think  I  never  saw  it  much  smoother  than  it  is  at  the  pres- 
ent time. 

By  this  time,  the  candidates  have  stumbled  over  the  rugged  road 
and  arrived  again  at  the  entrance  of  the  living  arch.  The  conductor 
says,  companions  there  is  a  very  difiicult  and  dangerous  pass  ahead, 
which  lies  directly  in  our  way.  Before  we  attempt  to  pass  it,  we  must 
kneel  down  and  pray. 

Sundry  prayers  and  passages  of  scripture  are  recited  before  the 
rugged  path  is  got  rid  of.  There  are  clauses  in  one  of  them,  which 
make  it  appear  that  it  was  originally  addressed  to  the  sun  when  in  the 
lower  hemi^phere,  imploring  his  return  to  the  upper  regions,  as  fol- 
lows : 


326  ANALVSIS    Of    FRJiEMASOXRY. 

"  Hear  my  prayer,  O  Lord !  give  ear  to  my  supplications :  for  the 
enemy  hath  persecuted  my  soul :  he  hath  made  me  to  dwell  in  dark- 
ness. Therefore  is  my  spirit  overwhelmed  within  me ;  my  heart  within 
me  is  desolate.  Hear  me  speedily,  O  Lord!  my  spirit  faileth  :  hide 
not  thy  face  from  me,  lest  I  be  like  unto  them  that  go  down  into  the 
pit.  Cause  me  to  hear  thy  loving'  kinduess  in  the  morning ;  for  in 
thee  do  1  trust.  Bring-  my  soul  out  of  trouble.  And  of  thy  mercy  cut 
off  my  enemies  ;  for  I  am  thy  servant^ 

The  most  appropriate  prayer,  as  regards  the  mysteries  of  masonry, 
is,  perhaps,  that  recorded  by  Dermott,  which  is  used  in  the  lodge  of 
Jewish  freemasons. 

"  O  Lord,  excellent  art  thou  in  thy  truth,  and  there  is  nothing  great 
in  comparison  to  thee  ;  for  thine  is  the  praise,  from  all  the  works  of  thy 
hands,  forevermore. 

"Enlighten  us,  we  beseech  thee,  in  the  true  knowledge  of  masonry  ; 
by  the  sorrows  of  Adam,  thy  first  made  man  ;  by  the  blood  of  Abel,  the 
holy  one;  by  the  righteousness  of  Seth",  in  whom  thou  art  well  pleased  ; 
and  by  thy  covenant  with  Noah,  in  whose  architecture  thou  was 
pleased  to  save  the  seed  of  thy  beloved ;  number  us  not  among  those 
that  know  not  thy  statutes,  nor  the  divine  mysteries  of  the  secret 
Cabala* 

"  But  grant,  we  beseech  thee,  that  the  niler  of  this  lodge  may  be 
endued  with  knowledge  and  wisdom,  to  instruct  us  and  explain  his 
secret  mysteries,  as  our  holy  brother  Moses^  did,  in  his  lodge,  to  Aaron, 
to  Eleazar,  and  Ithamar,  the  sons  of  Aaron,  and  the  seventy  elders  of 
Israel. 

"  And  grant  that  we  may  understand,  learn,  and  keep  all   the  stat- 

*  Cabal  or  Cabala  is  a  secret  science,  professed  by  the  Hebrew  Rabbins,  concerning 
the  allegorical  interpretation  of  the  bible. — Edit. 

t  In  the  preface  to  the  Mishna,  we  find  this  tradition  of  the  Jews,  explained  as 
follows : 

God  not  only  delivered  the  law  to  Moses  on  Mount  Sinai,  but  the  explanation  of  it 
likewise:  when  Moses  came  down  from  the  mount,  and  entered  into  his  tent,  Aarun 
went  to  visit  him ;  and  Moses  acquainted  Aaron  with  the  laws  he  had  received  from 
God,  together  with  the  explanation  of  them  ;  after  this  Aaron  placed  himself  at  the  right 
hand  of  Moses,  and  Eleazar  and  Ithamar,  the  sons  of  Aaron,  were  admitted,  to  whom 
Moses  repeated  what  he  had  just  before  told  to  Aaron  :  these  being  seated,  the  one  on 
the  right  hand,  the  other  on  the  left  hand  of  Moses ;  the  seventy  elders  of  Israel,  who 
composed  the  Sanhedrim,  came  in;  and  Moses  a'gain  declared  the  same  laws  to  them, 
with  the  interpretation  of  them,  as  he  had  done  before  to  Aaron  and  his  sons.  Lastly, 
all  who  pleased  of  the  common  people  were  invited  to  enter,  and  Moses  instructed  them 
likewise  in  the  same  manner  as  the  rest :  so  that  Aaron  heard  four  times  what  Moses 
had  been  taught  by  God  upon  Mount  Sinai,  Eleazar  and  Ithamar  three  times,  the 
seventy  elders  twice,  and  the  people  once.  Moses  afterwards  reduced  the  laws  which 
he  had  received  into  writing,  but  not  the  explanations  of  them  ;  these  he  thought  it  suf- 
ficient to  trust  to  the  memories  of  the  above-mentioned  persons,  who,  being  perfectly 
instructed  in  them,  delivered  them  to  their  children,  and  these  again  to  theirs  from  age 
to  age. 


ROYAL    ARCH    DtGRrE.  820 

utes  and  commandments  of  the  Lord,  and  this  holy  mystery,  pure  and 
undefiled  unto  our  lives  erid.     Amen,  Lord." 

The  candidates  after  having  passed  the  four  vails,  by  giving  the 
signs  and  pass-words  appropriated  to  each,  are  admitted  into  the  pres- 
ence of  the  grand  council,  by  means  of  a  signet,  being  a  triangular 
piece  of  metal  with  the  word  Zer-ubba-bel  erg  raved  upon  it. 

I  have  had  the  curiosity  to  look  into  the  derivation  and  meaning  of 
the  word  Zer-ubba-bel.  As  it  is  a  compounded  word,  some  of  its  com- 
pounds are  of  course  abbreviated.  Zer,  it  is  likely,  is  a  contraction  of 
zerah,  which  means  east,  brightness :  ubba  is  probably  a  corruption  of 
abba,  father,  which  the  Deity  is  sometimes  styled  ;  and  bel  is  well 
known  to  mean  the  sun,  or  lord.  Zerubbabel  is  defined  dispersion  of 
confusion. 

What  could  more  clearly  point  out  the  glorious  luminary  of  day, 
rising  in  the  east,  and  dispersing  the  clouds  and  darkness?  His  seal 
ought,  of  course,  to  entitle  the  bearer  to  admittance  into  the  sanctum 
sanctorum. 

Finally,  the  grand  council,  being  satisfied  as  to  the  pretensions  of 
the  candidates,  directs  them  to  repair  to  the  north-west  corner  of  the 
ruins  of  the  old  temple,  and  commence  removing  the  rubbish,  to  lay 
the  foundation  of  the  new.  (The  reader  will  remember,  that  it  was  in 
the  north-ioest  that  the  Deity  was  supposed  to  have  commenced  his 
operations  in  the  erection  of  the  world.)  While  thus^  engaged,  they 
discover  a  secret  vault,  in  which  is  found  the  key  stone  of  the  arch ; 
which,  by  the  by,  had  already  been  put  in  its  place,  in  the  preceding 
degree.*  On  a  second  descenj  of  one  of  the  party,  he  discovers  a 
small  box  or  chest,  standing  on  a  pedestal,  curiously  wrought  and  over- 
laid with  gold;  he  involuntarily  found  his  hand  raised  to  guard  his 
eyes  from  the  intense  light  and  heat  reflected  from  it.  This  proved  to 
be  the  ark,  containing  the  lost  uwrd,  logos,  or  sun ;  which  accounts  for 
the  intense  light  and  heat  reflected  from  it.\  It  contained  also,  the 
book  of  the  law — Aaron^s  rod — a  pot  of  manna,  and  a  key  to  the  inef* 
able  characters  of  this  degree. 

*  This  circumstance,  as  well  as  that  of  the  pass-word,  Rabboni,  being  the  same  in 
the  most  excellent  master's  degree  as  in  this,  shows,  as  noticed  by  Mr.  Cole,  the  inti- 
mate connection  between  the  two  degrees. 

t  "  The  god  of  day,  personified  in  the  sacred  allegories,  was  subjected  to  all  the  des- 
tinies of  man  ;  he  had  his  cradle  and  his  tomb,  under  the  names  of  Hercules,  Bacchus, 
Osiris,  etc.  He  was  an  infant  at  the  winter  solstice,  at  the  morqent  when  the  day 
began  to  increase:  it  was  under  this  form  that  his  image  was  exposed  in  tlie  ancient 
temples,  there  to  receive  the  homage  of  his  adorers.  'Because  then,  says  Macrobeus, 
the  day  being  the  shortest,  this  god  seemed  to  be  but  a  feeble  child-  This  is  the  child 
of  the  mysteries,  he  whose  image  the  Egyptians  drew  from  the  bottom  of  their  sanctua- 
ries every  year  on  a  fixed  day.''  "     (Orlgine  de  tons  les  Cultes,  p.  313.) 

Here  is  the  original  of  the  drawing  up,  from  beneath  the  foundation  of  Solomo:i'« 
temple,  of  the  omnific  (all-creating)  word,  logos,  or  sun. 

42 


330 


ANALTSie    OF    FRBXMASONKT  : 


The  candidates  passing  under  the  living  arch  ;  also,  the  descent  of 
a  companion  into  the  vault  of  nine  arches. 

This  ark  of  masonry  is  but  a  copy  of  the  old  mysterious  chest  of  the 
ancient  Egyptians  ;  which,  among  other  monuments  of  the  ancient 
state  of  mankind,  contained  "  acorns,  heads  of  poppies,  bay-berries, 
branches  of  fig-tree,"  etc. ;  which,  like  the  manna  of  the  Jews,  are 


ROTAL    ARCH    DSORBB.  381 

said  to  hare  eerred  as  their  main  sustenance,  in  tho  early  ag^ea  of  the 
world. 

Although  the  masons  pretend  to  inherit  Aaron's  rod  ;  in  their  hands 
it  has  lost  its  miraculous  powers.  And  as  to  the  book  of  the  law,  by 
which  modern  masons  at  least,  mean  the  law  of  Moses,  it  was  not  in 
the  Jewish  ark;  for,  according  to  1  Kings  c.  8,  v.  9,  "There  was 
nothing  in  the  ark  save  the  two  tables  of  stone." 

The  following  questions  and  answers  occur,  in  what  is  called  lec- 
tures, after  the  ceremonies  of  initiation  are  passed ;  which  a^e,  in  fact, 
statements  of  what  had  been  before  detailed.  I  have  endeavored  to 
avoid  repetitions,  by  previously  omitting  part  of  what  takes  place  at 
initiations. 

After  receiving  the  obligation,  wliat  was  said  to  you  ?  We  were  told 
that  we  were  now  obligated  and  received  as  royal  arch  masons,  but  as 
this  degree  was  infinitely  more  important  than  any  of  the  preceding,  it 
was  necessary  for  us  to  pass  through  many  trials,  and  to  travel  in 
rough  and  rugged  ways,  to  prove  our  fidelity,  before  we  could  be  entrus- 
ted with  the  more  important  secrets  of  this  degree.  We  were  further 
told,  that,  though  we  could  not  discover  the  'path  we  were  to  travel,  we 
were  under  the  direction  oidi  faithful  guide,  who  would  bring  the  blind 
by  a  way  they  know  not,  and  lead  them  in  paths  they  had  not  known; 
who  would  make  darkness  light  before  them,  and  crooked  things 
straight;  who  would  do  these  things,  and  not  forsake  them.  (See  Isa. 
42,  v.  16.)  Follow  your  leader  and  fear  no  danger.  Let  your  advance 
be  by  seven  solemn  steps,  and  at  each  step,  you  must  halt  and  make 
obeisance,  with  the  awe  and  reverence  suited  to  this  grand  and  solemn 
occasion;  for  every  step  brings  you  nearer  to  the  sacred  name  of 
God* 

The  following  remarks  of  Plato,  in  his  "  Phoedon,  or  Dialogue  on 
the  immortality  of  the  soul,"  will  tend  to  explain  the  inference  intended 
to  be  drawn  from  the  above  passage,  by  showing  the  idea  entertained 
by  the  ancients  in  regard  to  the  difficulties  to  be  encountered  in  the 
fourney  to  the  other  world;  to  which  the  extract  from  Isaiah  is  here 
made  to  apply. 

*'  If  the  soul  is  immortal,  it  stands  in  need  of  cultivation  and  improve- 
ment, not  only  in  the  time  that  we  call  the  time  of  life.;  but  for  the 
future,  or  what  we  call  the  time  of  eternity.  For  if  you  think  justly 
upon  this  point,  you  will  find  it  very  dangerous  to  neglect  the  soul. 
Were  death  the  dissolution  of  the  whole  man,  it  would  be  a  great  advan- 
tage to  the  wicked  after  death,  to  be  rid  at  once  of  their  body,  their 
Soul,  and  their  vices.     But  forasmuch  as  the  soul  is  immortal,  the  only 


3S5I  ANALTSie    OF     rnKEMASONUY. 

way  to  avoid  those  evils  and  obtain  salvation,  is  to  become  good  arid 
wise.  For  it  carries  nothing  along  with  it,  but  its  good  or  bad  actions, 
and  its  virtues  or  vires,  which  are  the  cause  of  its  eternal  happiness  or 
misery,  commencing  from  the  first  minute  of  its  arrival  in  the  other 
world.  And  it  is  said,  that  after  the  death  of  every  individual  person, 
the  demon  or  genius  that  was  partner  with  it,  and  conducted  it  during 
life,  leads  it  to  a  certain  place,  where  all  the  dead  are  obliged  to  appear 
in  order  to  be  judged,  and  from  thence  are  co?tducted  hy  a  guide  to  the 
world  below.  And  after  they  have  there  received  their  good  or  bad 
deserts,  and  continued  there  their  appointed  time,  another  conductor 
brings  them  back  to  this  life,  after  several  revolutions  of  ages.  Now  this 
road  is  not  a  plain  road,  else  there  would  be  no  occasion  for  guides,  and 
nobody  miss  their  way.  But  there  are  several  hy-ways,  and  crossways,  as 
I  conjecture  from  the  method  of  their  sacrifices  and  religious  ceremonies. 
So  that  a  temperate  wise  soul  follows  its  guide,  and  is  not  ignorant  of 
what  happens  to  it;  but  the  soul  that  is  nailed  to  its  body,  that  is 
inflamed  with  the  love  of  it,  and  has  been  long  its  slave,  after  much 
struggling  and  suffering  in  this  visible  world,  is  at  last  dragged  along 
against  its  will  by  the  demon  allotted  for  its  guide.  And  when  it  arrives 
at  that  fatal  rendezvous  of  all  souls,  if  it  has  been  guilty  of  any  impurity, 
or  polluted  with  murder,  or  has  committed  any  of  those  atrocious  crimes 
that  desperate  and  lost  souls  are  commonly  guilty  of,  the  other  souls 
abhor  it  and  avoid  its  company.  It  finds  neither  companion  nor  guide^ 
but  wanders  in  a  fearful  solitude  and  horrible  desert ;  till  after  a  certain 
time,  necessity  drags  it  into  the  mansions  it  deserves.  Whereas  the 
temperate  and  pure  soul  has  the  gods  themselves  for  its  guides  and 
Conductors,  and  goes  to  cohabit  with  them  in  the  mansions  of  pleasure 
prepared  for  it." 

What  further  was  said  to  you  ?  The  high  priest  first  read  the  fol- 
lowing passage,  (Exodus  vi.  2,  3.)  "  And  God  spake  unto  Moses,  and 
said  unto  him,  I  am  the  Lord,  and  I  appeared  unto  Abraham,  unto  Isaac, 
and  unto  Jacob,  by  the  name  of  God  Almighty,  but  by  my  name  Jeho- 
vah, was  I  not  known  to  them." 

He  then  informed  us  that  the  name  of  Deity,  the  divine  Logos,  or 
toord,  to  which  reference  is  had  in  John,  (1,  v.  1,  5.)  "In  the  begin- 
ning was  the  word,  [Logos}  and  the  word  was  with  God,  and  the  word 
was  God  ;  the  same  was  in  the  beginning  with  Gdd :  all  things  were 
made  by  him,  and  without  him  was  not  any  thing  made  that  was  made;  in 
him  was  life,  and  the  life  was  the  light  of  men :  and  the  light  shineth 
in  darkness,  and  the  darkness  comprehended  it  iiot^  That  this  Logos, 
or  wordt  was  anciently  written  only  in  these  sacred  characters,  (showing 


ROYAL    A.liCH    DEGREE.  333 

them,)  and  thus  preserved  from  one  generation  to  another.  That  this 
was  the  true  masonic  word,  which  was  lost  in  the  death  of  Hiram  Ah'iffy 
and  was  restored  at  the  building  of  the  temple,  in  the  manner  we  had 
at  that  time  assisted  to  represent. 

Here  the  whole  mystery  of  masonry  is  unveiled  ;  here  is  a  candid 
confession  of  what  the  masons  had  been  so  long  in  search  of,  which 
proves  to  be  the  lost  Logos,  the  second  person  in  the  pagan  trinity. 
Logos  is  the  same  as  Osiris,  the  sun,  considered  as  the  Demiurgus,  the 
maker  of  the  world,  under  the  direction  of  the  Supreme  Being. 

It  has  been  asserted  by  Dr.  Priestly  and  others,  that  the  above  pas- 
sage in  John,  is  an  interpolation :  and  the  use  here  made  of  it,  by  an 
institution  derived  from  paganism,  corroborates  the  fact. 

•'  Those  who  believe  that  the  Logos  was  the  personification  of  the 
divine  intellect,  or  of  the  divine  attributes  of  wisdom,  power,  etc.,  trace 
this  doctrine  to  the  ancient  Platonists ;  from  whom,  as  they  conceive,  it 
was  adopted  by  the  Christian  fathers."  *  *.  *  "In  the  writings  of 
Plato,  Logos  has  two  acceptations,  viz.  those  of  speech,  and  of  reason, 
such  as  is  found  in  man.  But  when  this  philosopher  speaks  of  nous  or 
Logus,  as  something  distinct  from  the  Divine  Being  himself,  as  a  power 
or  property  belonging  to  him,  and  all  divine  powers  and  properties  being 
Substance,  it  would  be  very  natural  and  easy  to  transform  this  divine 
power  into  a  substantial  person ;  and  this  we  shall  find  to  have  been  the 
case  with  respect  to  the  latter  Platonists,  agreeably  to  one  of  the  Pla- 
tonic maxims,  viz*  that  being  and  energy  are  the  same  thing." — 
(Rees'  Cycl.) 

"  Never  any  philosophy  was  so  fashionable,  as  that  of  Plato  during 
the  first  ages  of  the  church  :  the  Po-^awi*  interested  themselves  amongst 
all  the  different  sects  of  philosophers,  but  the  conformity  which  Plato^s 
was  found  to  have  with  religion,  made  almost  all  the  knowing  Chris' 
tians  of  that  sect.  Thence  came  the  mighty  esteem  they  had  of  Plato: 
they  looked  upon  him  as  a  sort  of  prophet  "tvho  had  foretold  many 
important  points  "of  Christianity,  especially  that  of  the  holy  Trinty : 
nay,  they  went  so  far  as  to  take  his  works  for  comments  on  the  scrip- 
ture ;  and  to  conceive  the  nature  of  the  Word,  as  he  conceived  it.  He 
represented  God  so  elevated  above  his  creatures,  that  he  did  not  believe 
that  they  were  immediately  made  by  his  hands ;  and  therefore  he  put 
between  them  and  him  this  Word,  as  a  degree  by  which  the  actions  of 
God  might  pass  down  to  them ;  the  Christians  had  the  like  idea  of 
Jesus  Christ :  and  this  may  perhaps  be  the  reason  why  no  heresy  has 
been  more  generally  received  and  maintained  with  greater  heat  than 
Arrianism. 


334  ANALYSIS    OF    FREEMASOIfRY  : 

This  Plaionism  then  (which  seems  to  honor  the  Christian  reli- 
gion by  countenancing  it)  was  very  full  of  notions  about  Demons :  and 
thence  they  easily  passed  into  that  opinion  which  the  old  Christians 
had  of  oracles. 

Plato  said,  that  Demons  were  of  a  middle  nature,  between  God  and 
man ;  that  they  were  the  aerial  ge?iii  appointed  to  hold  a  commerce 
between  God  and  us ;  that  although  they  were  near  us,  yet  we  could 
not  see  them  ;  that  they  penetrated  into  all  our  thoughts;  that  they  had 
a  love  for  the  good,  and  a  hatred  for  the  bad ;  and  that  it  was  for  their 
honor  that  such  variety  of  sacrifices,  and  so  many  different  ceremonies 
were  appointed  :  but  it  does  not  at  all  appear,  that  Plato  acknowledged 
any  evil  demons,  to  w^hich  might  be  attributed  the  management  of  the 
illusions  of  oracles.  Plutarch,  notwithstanding,  assures  us,  that  Plato 
was  not  ignorant  of  them ;  and  amongst  the  Platonic  philosophers,  the 
thing  is  out  of  doubt.  Eusebius,  in  his  Evangelical  Preparations, 
recites  a  great  number  of  passages  out  of  Porphyrins,  where  that 
Pagan  philosopher  assures  us,  that  evil  demons  are  the  authors  of 
enchantments,  philtres  and  witch-crafts ;  that  they  cheat  our  eyes  with 
spectres,  phantoms,  and  apparitions ;  that  lying  is  essential  to  their 
nature;  that  they  raise  in  us  the  greatest  part  of  our  passions;  and  that 
they  have  an  ambition  to  pass  with  us  for  gods ;  that  their  aerial  and 
spiritual  bodies  are  nourished  with  suffumigations,  and  with  the  blood 
and  fat  of  sacrifices  ;  and  that  it  is  only  these  that  employ  themselves  in 
giving  oracles,  and  to  whom  this  task  so  full  of  fraud  is  assigned :  in 
short,  at  the  head  of  the  troop  of  evil  demons  he  places  Hecate  and 
Serapis. 

Jamblichus,  another  Platonist,  has  said  as  much.  And  the  greatest 
part  of  these  things  being  true,  the  Christians  received  them  all  wdth 
joy,  and  have  added  to  them  besides  a  little  of  their  own:  as  for  exam. 
pie,  that  the  demons  stole  from  the  writings  of  the  prophets  some  know- 
ledge of  things  to  come ;  and  so  got  honor  by  it  in  their  oracles. 

This  system  of  the  ancient  Christians  had  this  advantage,  that  it  dis- 
covered to  the  Pagans,. by  their  own  principles,  the  original  of  their 
false  worship,  and  the  source  of  those  errors  which  they  always 
embraced.  They  were  persuaded  that  there  was  something  superna- 
tural in  their  oracles ;  and  the  Christians,  who  were  always  disputing 
against  them,  did  not  desire  to  confute  this  opinion.  Thus  by  demons 
(which  both  parties  believed  to  be  concerned  in  the  oracles,)  they 
explicated  all  that  was  supernatural  in  them.  They  acknowledged 
indeed  that  this  sort  of  ordinary  miracles  were  wrought  in  the  Pagan 
religion :  but  then  they  ruined  this  advantage  again,  by  imputing  them 


ROYAL    ARCH    DEORSE.  335 

to  euch  authors  as  evil  spirits.  And  this  way  of  convincing,  was 
more  short  and  easy,  than  to  contradict  the  miracle  itself,  by  a  long 
train  of  inquiries  and  arguments.  Thus  I  have  given  you  the  manner 
how  that  opinion  which  the  first  ages  of  the  church  had  of  the  Pagan 
oracles,  was  grounded,  I  might,  to  the  three  reasons  which  I  have 
already  brought,  add  a  fourth  of  no  less  authority  perhaps  than  those: 
that  is,  that  in  the  supposition  of  oracles  being  given  by  demons,  there 
is  something  miraculous  :  and  if  we  consider  the  humor  of  mankind  a 
little,  we  shall  find  how  much  we  are  taken  with  any  thing  that  is 
miraculous.  B  ut  I  do  not  intend  to  enlarge  myself  on  this  reflection ; 
for  those  that  think  upon  it,  will  easily  believe  me,  and  those  that  do 
not,  will  perhaps  give  it  no  credit,  notwithstanding  all  my  arguments." 

The  physical  properties  of  the  sun  are  plainly  set  forth  in  the 
extract  from  John. — The  language  is  in  the  mystic  style  of  the  Platonic 
school,  and  not  in  the  plain,  simple  manner  of  the  gospel  writers ;  but 
notwithstanding,  if  put  in  the  shape  of  interrogatory,  "  What  is  that 
which  contains  the  principles  that  produce  life,  and  is  at  the  same  time, 
the  Zi^/i^  of  men  ?"  It  would  not  form  a  conundrum  difficult  of  solu- 
tion.— "The  light  shineth  in  darkness,  and  the  darkness  comprehended 
it  not,"  alludes  to  a  time  past,  when  the  sun  was  enveloped  with 
clouds  in  either  of  the  tropics  ;  and  his  extrication,  and  triumph  over 
Typhon,  the  prince  of  darkness,  was  the  very  cause  of  the  celebration 
here  imitated  by  the  masons. 

Besides,  it  is  said,  *'  That  was  the  true  light,  which  lighteth  every 
man  that  cometh  into  the  world."  Now,  this  could  not  properly  be 
said  of  Christ,  as  it  would  not  apply  to  those  who  never  heard  of  his 
name ;  but  is  very  applicable  to  the  sun,  which  lighteth  every  one  in 
all  parts  of  the  earth. 

Mr.  Dupuis,  taking  for  granted  that  the  above  passages  are  genuine, 
that  is,  actually  written  by  St.  John,  makes  great  account  of  them,  as 
well  he  might,  to  prove  that  Christ  and  the  sun  are  the  same,  and  con- 
sequently that  Christianity  is  sun-worship.     He  says, 

"  The  theology  of  Orpheus  taught  that  light,  the  most  ancient  and 
the  most  sublime  of  all  beings,  is  God,  that  inaccessible  God,  who 
envelopes  all  things  in  his  substance,  and  who  is  called  reason,  (con- 
seil)  light  and  life.  These  theological  ideas  have  been  copied  by  the 
evangelist  John,  when  he  said  '  That  the  life  was  the  light,  and  that 
the  light  was  the  life,  and  that  the  light  was  the  Word,  or  the  reason, 
and  the  wisdom  of  God.'  " 

Again,  "  The  Guebres  still  at  this  day  reverence  the  light  as  the 


336  ANALYSIS    OF    FREEMASONRY: 

most  beautiful  attribute  of  the  divinity.  '  Fire,  say  they,  produced  the 
light,  and  the  light  is  god."  This  is  the  ethereal  fire,  in  which  ancient 
theology  placed  the  substance  of  the  divinity,  or  universal  soul  of  the 
world,  from  whence  emanates  light  and  life,  or,  to  use  the  expressions 
of  the  Christians,  the  Logos,  or  the  word,  which  lighteth  every  man  that 
Cometh  into  the  world,  and  giveih  life  to  all  beings." 

But,  admitting  the  passages  above  quoted  from  St.  John's  gospel,  to 
be  interpolations,  as  I  believe  has  been  made  evident,  the  argument  of 
Dupuis  on  this  head,  falls  to  the  ground. 

There  is  much  confusion,  after  all,  in  regard  to  the  omnific  word. 
Whether  this  was  created  by  the  original  founders  of  the  order,  for  the 
purpose  of  deception,  or  has  been  introduced  by  modern  masons,  is 
unknown.  After  declaring  the  Logos  to  be  the  recovered  long  lost 
word,  another  compound  name,  intended  to  bear  the  same  import,  is 
substituted  in  its  place. 

This  the  English  masons  call  Jao-Bul-On,and  the  American  masons, 
Jah-Buh-Lun.  They  both  say  the  word  is  compounded  of  the  names 
of  Deity  in  three  languages,  Hebrew,  Chaldean,  and  Syriac;  leaving 
Egypt,  the  mother  of  the  mysteries,  from  which  masonry  is  derived, 
out  of  the  question,  although  On,  which  composes  part  of  the  compound 
word,  used  by  English  masons,  was  one  of  the  names  of  the  Deity, 
peculiar  to  that  country. 

Neither  Buh  nor  Lun,  it  is  believed,  was  ever  the  name  of  a  Deity 
in  any  language ;  and  although  the  sun  was  worshipped  under  the 
symbolical  figure  of  the  bull,  either  on  account  of  his  great  use  in  agri- 
culture, or  because  the  celestial  sign  of  the  bull  was  formerly  in  the 
vernal  equinox  at  the  opening  of  the  year;  yet  it  is  evident  that  the  bull 
was  looked  upon  merely  as  a  symbol,  and  not  as  actually  constituting 
the  name  of  the  Supreme  Being.  Whereas  Jah-Bel-On,  were  perma- 
nent names,  universally,  and  at  all  times  bestowed  upon  the  Deity,  by 
one  or  other  of  the  nations  above  mentioned. 

"  The  chief  varieties  of  this  sacred  name  [of  Godl  amongst  the 
inhabitants  of  different  nations  (says  Oliver,)  were  Jah-Bel  or  Baal,  and 
On  or  Om." 

"Bel  or  Baal,  (says  Mayo,)  was  the  same  god  with  Moloch.  Their 
names,  both  of  which  signify  the  king,  the  lord,  are  titles  applicable  to 
the  sun," 

It  is  not  permitted  to  utter  this  omnific  word  above  the  breath,  and 
three  companions  are  required  to  perform  it,  each  pronouncing  a  sylla- 
ble alternately.     And  admitting  Jah-bel-on  to  be  the  word,  one  would 


ROYAL    ARCH    DEGREE.  337 

say  Jah,  another  Bel,  and  the  third  On;  and  then  interchangeably  until 
each  had  pronounced  the  whole  compound.  A  similar  superstition 
prevails  among  the  Jews,  in  regard  to  what  is  called  the  Tetragam- 
maton,  or  word  of  four  letters,  which,  in  Hebrew,  compose  the  name 
Jehovah.  The  Jews,  however,  are  not  permitted  to  pronounce  this 
name,  even  by  dividing  the  syllables  in  the  manner  of  the  companions 
of  royal  arch  masonry. 

The  very  attribute  given  to  the  lost  word,  omnific,  (all-creating,) 
indicates  the  Demiurgus,  the  Creator  of  the  world,  which  as  before 
observed,  was  believed  by  the  ancients  to  be  the  sun. 

It  was  of  no  importance  to  investigate  the  composition  of  the  omnific 
word  of  masonry,  any  further  than  to  show,  that  in  all  the  movements 
of  the  order,  the  sun  is  kept  constantly  in  view;  and  that  the  lost 
master  mason's  word  meant  nothing  but  the  lost  influence  of  that  lumi- 
nary, when  in  his  greatest  northern,  or  southern  declination. 

But  to  return  to  the  lecture:  it  is  stated  by  the  candidates,  that  the 
high  priest  placed  crowns  upon  their  heads,  and  told  them  they  were 
now  invested  with  all  the  important  secrets  of  this  degree,  crowned 
and  received  as  worthy  companio7is,  royal  arch  masons. 

This  custom,  it  has  been  shown,  is  not  without  authority,  or  prece- 
dent, in  the  ancient  mysteries. 

I  will  repeat,  from  Dupuis,  the  purport  and  end  of  the  mysteries : — - 
"  The  mystagogues  make  darkness  and  light  successively  to  appear 
before  the  eyes  of  the  initiates.  Night  the  most  obscure,  accompanied 
with  frightful  spectres,  is  replaced  by  a  brilliant  day,  whose  light  envi- 
rons uhe  statue  of  the  divinity.  This  sanctuary  is  approached  with 
trembling,  where  all  was  prepared  to  exhibit  the  spectacle  of  Tartarus 
and  Elysium.  It  is  in  this  last  stage  that  the  initiated,  being  ulti- 
mately inducted,  perceives  the  picture  of  beautiful  prairies  enlightened 
by  a  clear  sky ;  there  he  hears  harmonious  voices,  and  the  charming 
songs  of  the  sacred  choirs.  It  is  then  that,  become  absolutely  free  and 
disfranchised  from  all  evil,  he  mixes  with  the  crowd  of  the  initiates, 
and  when,  his  head  being  crowned  with  flowers,  he  cel?brates  the  holy 
orgies  with  them. 

"  Thus  the  ancients  represented  here  below,  in  their  initiations, 
that  which  would,  they  said,  one  day  happen  to  souls  when  they  should 
be  disengaged  from  bodies,  and  drawn  from  the  obscure  prison  in 
which  destiny  had  enchained  them  in  uniting  them  to  terrestrial 
matter." — (Orig.  de  tous  les  Cultes,  p.  501.) 

43 


338  ANALY»15    OF    FREEMASONRY  : 

As  this  crowning  is  the  closing  ceremony  of  initiations  into  the 
mysteries,  so  is  its  imitation  in  the  royal  arch  included  in  the  last  act 
of  the  drama  of  ancient  freemasonry. 

The  following  address,  copied  from  Webb's  Freemason's  Monitor, 
is  delivered  to  the  newly  initiated  companion  : 

"  Worthy  companion,  by  the  coiisent  and  assistance  of  the  members 
of  this  chapter,  you  are  now  exalted  to  the  sublime  and  honorable 
degree  of  a  royal  arch  mason.  Having  attained  this  degree,  you  have 
arrived  at  the  summit  and  perfection  of  ancient  masonry,  and  are  con- 
sequently entitled  to  a  full  explanation  of  the  mysteries  of  the  order. 

"  The  rites  and  mysteries  developed  in  this  degree  have  been  handed 
down  through  a  chosen  iew,  unchanged  by  time,  and  uncontrolled  by 
prejudice;  and  we  expect  and  trust  they  will  be  regarded  by  you  with 
the  same  veneratio7i,  and  transmitted  with  the  same  scrupulous  purity 
to  your  successors. 

"  No  one  can  reflect  on  the  ceremonies  of  gaining  admission  into 
this  place,  without  being  forcibly  struck  with  the  important  lessons 
which  they  teach. 

"  Here  we  are  necessarily  led  to  contemplate  with  gratitude  and 
admiration  the  sacred  source  from  whence  all  earthly  comforts  flow  • 
here  we  find  additional  inducements  to  continue  steadfast  and  immove- 
able in  the  discharge  of  our  respective  duties ;  and  here  we  are  bound, 
by  the  most  solemn  ties,  to  promote  each  other's  welfare,  and  correct 
each  other's  failings,  by  advice,  admonition,  and  reproof" 

I  shall  conclude  the  notice  of  this  chapter,  with  a  few  remarks  on 
the  Jewel  and  Badge  of  the  order.  The  following  is  an  abridgment 
of  a  description  given  by  Carlile: 

The  jewel  is  composed  of  two  intersecting  triangles,  surrounding 
another  triangle,  with  the  sun  in  the  center,  an  emblem  of  the  Deity.* 

Under  these  is  the  compound  character,  |_! — l,  the  Triple  Tan,  (triple 

T,)  which  is  the  royal  arch  mason's  badge ;  by  which  the  wearer 
acknowledges  himself  the  servant  of  the  true  god. 

The  T,  it  has  been  seen,  is  the  figure  of  the  old  Egyptian  Nilometer, 
used  to  ascertain  the  height  of  the  inundation,  on  which  depended  the 
subsistence,  the  life  of  the  inhabitants.  The  Kilometer,  in  conse- 
quence, became  the  symbol  of  life,  health,  and  prosperity;  and  was 

•  Or  rather  a  deity  itselt 


ROYAL    ARCH    DEGREE.  389 

supposed  to  possess  the  power  of  averting  evil.  It  was,  therefore,  in 
an  abbreviated  form,  suspended  to  the  necks  of  the  sick  as  an  amulet 
or  charm* 

Thus  has  originated  the  badge  of  royal  arch  masonry :  its  triple 
form,  as  usual,  relates  to  the  Egyptian  trinity. 

It  is  generally  conceded  by  masonic  writers,  that  ancient  masonry 
closes  with  the  royal  arch.  In  an  edition  of  "  The  Illustrations 
of  Masonry,"  by  the  late  Mr.  Preston,  published  in  London,  1829, 
the  editor,  Mr.  Oliver,  author  of  the  lectures  from  which  quotations 
have  been  made  above,  observes  : 

"All  degrees  beyond  the  royal  arch  ought  to  be  carefully  separated 
from  genuine  masonry,  as  they  are  mostly  founded  on  vague  and 
uncertain  traditions,  which  possess  not  the  shadow  of  authority  to 
recommend  them  to  our  notice." 

The  additional  degrees,  including  those  considered  legitimate, 
amount  to  upwards  of  fifty.  These  are  founded,  partly  upon  astrono- 
mical principles,  agreeing  with  the  ancient  worship  of  the  Egyptians ; 
and  partly  upon  the  Hebrew  and  Christian  doctrines ;  of  two  or  three 
of  which  a  slight  notice  will  be  taken. 

It  may  be  remarked  in  general,  that  many  of  the  degrees  of  knights 
are  founded  on  the  Christian  knighthoods,  got  up  in  the  time  of  the 
crusades,  in  the  twelfth  century;  and  that  the  ceremonies  theieof  are 
an  imitation  of  those  superstitious  establishments.  A  former  grand 
high  priest  of  the  chapters  in  the  state  of  New- York,  informs  me,  that 
he  initiated  a  French  gentleman  into  the  degree  of  knight  of  Malta, 
who  told  him  he  was  a  member  of  the  ancient  order  of  that  name,  and 
that  the  ceremonies  were  very  similar. 

At  the  time  those  old  knighthoods  were  founded,  "  Superstition 
mingled  in  every  public  and  private  action  of  life;  in  the  holy  wars, 
it  sanctified  the  profession  of  arms ;  and  the  order  of  chivalry  was 
assimilated  in  its  rights  and  privileges  to  the  sacred  orders  of  priest- 
hood. The  bath  and  the  white  garment  of  the  novice  were  an  inde- 
cent copy  of  the  regeneration  of  baptism;  his  sword,  which  he  offered 
on  the  altar,,  was  blessed  by  the  ministers  of*religion  ;  his  solemn 
reception  was  preceded  by  fasts  and  vigils ;  and  he  was  created  a 
knight  in  the  name  of  God,  of  St,  George,  and  of  St.  Michael  the 
archangel." — (Rees's  Cycl.) 

♦  The  letter  T  ( Tau)  was  used  by  captains  and  heralds,  and  signed  on  their  names, 
who  remained  alive  after  a  battle ;  as  the  letter  Theta  (  0 )  was  used  as  a  mark  of 
4eath,  bo  waa  T  of  life.— (Bailey. 


340  ANALYSIS    OF    FREEMASONJIV 


Order   of  High   Priesthood. 


The  ancient  priests  of  Eg-ypt,  and  the  Druids  of  Gaul  and  Britaint 
of  course,  officiated  in  the  administration  of  ihe  mysteries.  Soon  after 
Druidism  was  extinct,  it  is  probable,  the  royal  arch  was  neglected,  and 
lay  dormant  for  several  centuries.  On  its  revival,  about  the  middle  of 
the  eighteenth  century,  it  was  found  that  priests,  or  persons  to  officiate 
as  such,  were  necessary  to  preside  in  this  chapter.  Accordingly  they 
were  chosen  from;  the  laity  among  the  brethren,  or  from  such  clergymen 
as  had  joined  themselves  to  the  order  ;  and  there  were  doctors  of  divinity 
among  the  first  promoters  of  the  revival,  or  revolution  of  the  society. 

Here  the  English  clergy  had  an  opportunity,  which  they  did  not 
neglect,  to  mould  the  ceremonies  connected  with  the  order  of  priest- 
hood, to  suit  their  purpose.  The  odious  tithes-system  is  openly  advo- 
cated, and  the  awful  fate  of  Korah,  Dathan,  and  Abiram,  held  out  as 
the  due  punishment  of  all  those  who  should  dare  to  resist  it. 

The  following  remarks  upon  his  subject  are  abstracted  from  Cross 
and  Webb : 

This  order  appertains  to  the  office  of  high  priest  of  a  royal  arch, 
chapter  :  it  should  not  be  conferred  when  a  less  number  than  ihrte  high 
priests  are  present.  Whenever  the  ceremony  is  performed  in  due  and- 
ample  form,  the  assistance  of  at  least  nine  high  priests^  are  requisite. 
A  convention  notified  to  meet  at  the  time  of  any  communication  of  the 
grand  chapter,  will  afford  he  best  opportunity  of  conferring  this  impor- 
tant and  exalted  degree  of  masonry,  with  appropriate  solemnity. 

The  reading  of  the  following  passages  of  scripture  composes  a  part 
of  the  ceremonies  appertaining  to  this  order. 

The  first  passage  r-ead  is  the  14th  chapter  of  Genesis,  relating  to 
the  successful  expedition  "of  Abram  against  certain  kings,  and  on  his 
return,  giving  toMekhisedec  thithes  of  all  he  had  obtained. — A  refer- 
ence is  then  made  to  Hebrew  7,  v.  t-6 ;  wherein  it  is  said,  "  This 
Melchisedec,  king  of  Salem,  which  is  king-  of  peace,  was,  without 
father,  without  mother,  without  descent ;  huving  neither  beginning  of 
days,  nor  end  of  life;  but  abideth  a  priest  continually.  Now  consider 
how  great  this  man  was,  unto  whom  even  the  patriarch  Abraham 
gave  the  tenth  of  the  spoils.  And  verily  they  that  are  of  the  sons  of 
Levi,  who  receive  the  office  of  the  priesthood,  have  a  commandment  to 
take  tithes  of  the  people,  according  to  the  law,  that  is,  of  their  hrethrenJ^ 

Now,  this  alludes  particularly  to  the  Levitical  law,  and  had  a  spe- 
cial reference  to  that  portion  of  the  tribe  of  Levi  whp  were  admitted 


HIGH    PRIESTHOOD  341 

into  the  sacerdotal  order,  and  is  totally  inapplicaRe  to  the  Christian 
dispensation.  It  was  a  peace-offering:  of  St.  Paul,  the  author  of  the 
book  of  Hebrews,  to  the  Jewish  priests,  to  prevent  their  persecution  ; 
for  surely  the  apostle  did  not  pretend  to  the  right  of  demanding-  tithes 
of  the  Christian  laity  of  his  day ;  for  he  boasts  of  having  been  of  no 
charge  to  them,  laboring  for  his  own  support.  The  English  clergy, 
however,  claim  the  benefit  of  this  laic,  and  have  duped  the  masons 
into  an  acknowledgement  of  their  pretensions. 

The  next  passage  cited  is  Numbers  16,  v.  1 — 33  ;  which  gives  the 
horrid  catastrophe  of  Korah  and  company,  for  resisting  Moses  and 
Aaron.  This  example  is  evidently  adduced  to  deter  the  laity  of 
England  from  opposing  the  tithes-claimers,  the  would-be  legitimate 
heirs  of  the  sons  of  Levi,  who  receive  the  office  of  the  priesthood. 

Moses  here  accuses  the  body  of  the  Levites  of  seeking  the  priest- 
hood, and  asks,  "  What  is  Aaron,  that  ye  murmur  against  him .?" 
Which  shows  that  tithes  were  the  bone  of  contention,  even  in  the  time 
of  Moses,  the  priesthood  qbtaining  a  greater  share,  in  proportion  to 
their  numbers,  than  the  rest  of  the  tribe.  The  passage  concludes  as 
follows: — "And  it  came, to  pass,  as  he  (Moses)  had  made  an  end  of 
speaking  all  these  words,  that  the  ground  clave  asunder  that  was  under 
them :  and  the  earth  opened  her  mouth,  and  swallowed  them  up,  and 
the  houses,  and  all  the  men  that  appertained  unto  Korah,  and  all  their 
goods.  They,  and  all  that  appertained  to  them,  went  down  alive  into 
the  pit,  and  the  earth  closed  upon  them :  and  they  perished  from 
among  the  congregation." 

The  American  masons  ought,  at  least,  to  have  so  modified  the 
ordination  of  priests  into  the  order,  as  to  render  it  consistent  with  our 
republican  institutions,  and  not  given  the  least  countenance  to  the 
iniquitous  exaction  of  clerical  tithes. 

It  may  be  said,  that  there  is  no  immediate  cause  of  alarm  on  this 
head ;  yet  the  reiterated  admission  of  such  a  claim,  by  a  numerous, 
respectable  society,  may  in  time  be  the  means  of  rendering  it  popular 
It  may  be  remarked,  that  Christian  clergymen  who  are  inducted  into 
this  ordfer,  assume  the  duties  of  pagan  priests,  and  of  course  per- 
form ceremonies  appropriate  to  the  worship  of  the  heavenly  bodies,  all 
the  host  of  heaven.  This,  to  be  sure,  may  be  done  very  innocently 
as  they  are  not  necessarily  diverted  from  the  integrity  of  their  faith; 
and  moreover,  are  probably  not  aware  of  the  real  import  of  the  rites 
and  ceremonies  in  which  they  participate. 

Afler  the  election  of  a  candidate  to  the  office  of  high  priest,  he  is 
thus  addressed  by  the  grand  high  priest : — "  You  are  appointed  chap- 


342  ANALYSIS    OF    FREEMASONRY  : 

Iain  to  this  chapter,  and  I  now  invest  you  with  this  circular  jewel,  the 
badge  of  your  office.  It  isxemblematical  of  eternity,  and  reminds  us 
that  here  is  not  our  abiding  place,"  etc.  Now,  we  have  seen,  that  a 
circle,  owing  to  its  figure,  was  esteemed  by  the  ancients,  a  symbol  of 
their  god,  the  sun. 

"  Let  the  mitre,  with  which  you  are  invested,  remind  you  of  the 
dignity  of  the  office  you  sustain,  and  its  inscription  impress  upon  your 
mind  a  sense  of  your  dependence  upon  God,"  etc. — The  inscription 
upon  it  is  holiness  to  the  Lord ;  the  same  as  that  which  surrounds  the 
mitre  of  the  hierophant  of  the  mysteries,  and  also  that  of  the  Roman 
pontiff 

"  The  breast-plate,  with  which  you  are  decorated,  is  in  imitation  of 
that  upon  which  were  engraved  the  names  of  the  twelve  tribes,  and 
worn  by  the  high  priest  of  Israel,"  etc. — The  breast  plate  is  the  same 
as  that  worn  by  the  hierophants  of  Egypt,  which  had  described  upon  it 
the  twelve  signs  of  the  zodiac* 

•'  The  various  colors  of  the  robes  you  wear,  are  emblematical  of 
every  grace  and  virtue,  which  can  adorn  and  beautify  the  human 
mind." — The  various  colors  of  the  robes  of  the  high  priest  are  sym- 
bolical of  the  seasons,  when  the  sun  is  in  the  different  constellations  o^ 
the  zodiac. — "  Ye  priests  I  (says  Vdney,  alluding  to  Catholic  priests,) 
you  wear  his  [the  sun's]  emblems  all  over  your  bodies  ;  your  tonsure  is 
the  disk  of  the  sun,  your  stole  is  his  zodiac,  your  rosaries  are  symbols 
of  the  stars  and  planets.  Ye  pontiffs  and  prelates !  your  mitre,  your 
crosier,  your  mantle,  are  those  of  Osiris." — (Ruins,  p.  139.) 

Although,  after  the  extinction  of  Druidism,  it  was  necessary  for 
masonry  to  create  an  order  of  priests  to  officiate  in  the  royal  arch  chap- 
ter as  representatives  of  the  deity,  still  it  is  evident  that  the  English 
clergy,  who  undoubtedly  took  a  principal  part  in  arranging  the  cere- 
monies appropriated  to  initiations  into*  the  order,  have  managed  the 
affair  to  suit  their  own  sinister  purposes.  They  made  up  a  medley, 
compounded  of  Paganism,  Jewism,  and  Christianity.  Little  of  ancient 
masonry  is  to  be  seen  in  it,  excepting  the  dress  of  the  high  priest, 
which  is  purely  of  pagan  origin.  And  here  it  may  be  proper  to 
remark,  that  although  it  has  been  shown,  that  the  prayers  of  the  ancient 
pagans  and  those  of  the  Jews  were  couched  in  the  same  terms,  the 

♦  Volney,  in  taking  notice  of  some  customs  of  the  Hebrews,  which  are  also  strictly 
masonic,  observes: — "  In  vain  did  Moses  proscribe  the  worship  of  the  symbols  whicn 
prevailed  in  lower  Egypt  and  Phenicia ;  in  vain  did  he  wish  to  blot  from  his  religion 
every  thing  which  had  relation  to  the  stars;  many  traits  call  them  to  mind  in  spite  of 
all  he  has  done."  He  cites  as  instances,  "  The  seven  luminaries  or  planets  of  the  great 
candlestick;  the  twelve  stones  or  signs  in  the  urim  of  the  high  priest,  and  the  feasi  of 
tbe  two  e^inoxes,  entrances  and  gates  of  the  two  hemispheres." 


KNIGHT    OP    THE    FAGLE.  843 

objects  to  whom  they  were  addressed  only  being  changed,  neverthe- 
less it  may  be  doubted  that  the  frequent  introduction  of  texts  of  scrip- 
ture in  the  ceremonies,  is  in  strict  conformity  to  original  masonry- 
Two  doctors  of  divinity,  Dissanguliers  and  Anderson,  were  engaged 
in  the  collection,  or  forming  anew,  of  the  ceremonies,  and  had  it  in 
their  power  to  mould  them  at  will. 

Whether  innovations,  in  this  respect,  were  made  or  not  upon  this 
occasion,  is  of  no  consequence  any  farther  than  thereby  to  give  an 
impression  that  masonry  might  have  some  connection  with  the  Jew- 
ish religion.  These  observations  are,  therefore,  made  to  guard  against 
such  a  conclusion. 

Knight  of  the  Eagle  and  Sovereign  Prince  of  Rose-Croix  de  Heroden. 

This  degree  is  a  parody  on  the  royal  arch ;  and,  as  such,  tends  to 
confirm  our  interpretation  of  the  purport  of  that  chapter. — Here  the 
losttcord  is  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  instead  of  Hiram. 

The  time  and  circumstances  attending  ihe  losing  of  the  word,  are 
thus  stated  : 

The  moment  when  the  vail  of  the  temple  was  renf ;  when  darkness 
and  consternation  covered  the  earth ;  when  the  stars  disappeared,  and 
the  la?np  of  day  was  darkened ;  when  the  implements  of  masonry  were 
lost,  and  the  cubic  stone  sweated  blood  and  water ;  that  was  the  moment 
when  the  great  Maso7iic  Word  was  lost. 

Nevertheless,  says  the  master,  we  will  endeavor  to  recover  it,  and^ 
addressing  the  candidate  for  initiation,  says,  are  you  disposed  to  follow 
us?  Answer. — Yes,  I  am.  Master, — Brother  wardens,  make  the  candi- 
date travel  for  thirty-three  years,  to  learn  the  beauties  of  the  new  law. 
The  junior  warden  then  conducts  the  candidate  thirty-three  times  round 
the  lodge  without  stopping.  (Bernard  reduces  the  number  to  seven.) 
The  candidate  is  now  conducted  to  the  darkest  of  places,  from  which 
the  word  must  come  forth  triumphant,  to  the  glory  and  advantage  of 
masonry.  He  is  then  ordered  to  parade  the  room  three  times,  in  mem- 
ory of  the  mysterious  descent,  which  lasted  three  days. 

After  some  further  ceremony,  the  master  questions  the  candidate  as 
follows : 

From  whence  came  you? — From  Judea.  Which  way  did  you 
come  ? — By  Nazareth.  Who  conducted  you  ? — Raphael.  Of  wha* 
tribe  are  you  descended? — The  tribe  of  Judah. 

What  do  these  four  initial  letters,  I.  N.  R.  I.,  signify? — Jesus  Naz- 
arenus,  Rex  Judaeorum.     (Jesus  of  Nazareth,  King  of  the  Jews.) 


344  ANALYSIS    OF    FREEMASONRY.' 

Master.  My  brethren,  ii?//^^  happiness!  the  word  is  recovered; 
give  him  the  light.  The  vail  is  taken  off,  and  all  the  brethren  clap 
their  hands  threeUm^s,  and  give  three  huzzas. — (Carlile.) 

^  The  master  says  to  the  candidate,  approach,  my  brother,  1  will 
communicate  to  you  our  perfect  mysteries.  I  congratulate  you  on  the 
recovery  of  the  word,  which  entitles  you  to  this  degree  of  perfect 
masonry.  I  shall  make  no  comment  or  eulogium  on  it.  Its  sublimity 
will  be  duly  appreciated  by  you.  The  impression  which,  no  doubt,  it 
has  made  on  your  mind,  will  convince  you  that  you  were  not  deceived 
when  you  were  informed  that  the  ultimatum  of  masonic  perfection  was 
to  be  acquired  by  this  degree.  It  certainly  will  be  a  source  of  very 
considerable  satisfaction  to  you,  that  your  merit  alone  has  entitled  you 
to  it. 

The  above  is  a  mere  sketch  of  this  degree :  its  scenery,  some  parts 
of  which  has  already  been  noticed,  is  very  imposing.  In  the  repre- 
sentation of  the  infernal  regions,  the  awful  sights  of  the  greater  myste- 
ries are  more  closely  copied  than  is  done  in  the  royal  arch.  Whether 
the  inventors  of  the  order  expected  any  serious  effects  to  be  produced 
by  it ;  or  whether  it  was  got  up  for  amusement,  and  to  show  the  inge- 
nuity of  its  projectors,  is  uncertain.  But  it  is  pretty  evident  that 
such  exhibitions,  introduced  amidstscenesof  merriment  and  recreation, 
would  not  tend  to  make  a  very  strong  impression. 

Knight  of  Kadosh. 

Chapter  of  the  grand  Inspectors  of  Lodges,  grand  elected  Knights  of 
Kadosh,  or  the  White  and  Black  Eagle.  The  chief  is  entitled  Grand 
Commander. 

Altho  this  degree  is  not  recognized  in  ancient  masonry,  it  has  never- 
theless, such  a  decided  astronomical  bearing  as  to  render  it  probable  that 
it  is  derived  from  the  Egyptian  rites.  I  will,  therefore,  attempt  to  give 
an  explication  of  its  enigmatical  allusions. 

When  a  reception  into  this  degree  is  made,  the  grand  commander 
remains  alone  in  the  chamber,  and  must  be  so  situated  that  the  candi- 
date cannot  see  him,  as  he  is  not  to  know  who  initiated  him.  A  part 
of  this  obligation  is,  that  he  never  will  declare  to  anyone  who  received 
him  or  assisted  at  his  reception  to  this  sublime  degree.  This  is  sheer 
affectation,  and  intended  for  no  other  purpose  than  to  impress  upon  the 
candidate  the  awfulness  of  the  mysteries  in  which  he  is  about  to  be 
instructed.  It  is,  however,  an  imitation  of  an  ancient  custom.  Warbur- 
*on  says,  "A  passage  in  Eunapius  seems  to  say,  that  it  was  unlawful  to 


KNIGHT    OF   KADOSH. 


345 


reveal  the  name  of  the  hierophant."  And  Pythagoras,  it  has  been 
seen,  gave  his  lessons  from  behind  a  screen  to  his  newly  entered  pupils 

The  saluting  sign  of  Knights  of  Kadosh  is,  to  hold  the  sword  in 
the  left  hand,  and  place  the  right  hand  on  the  red  cross  which  covers 
the  heart.  The  question,  Are  you  Kadosh  ?  is  answered  by  placing 
the  right  hand  on  the  forehead,*'  and  saying,  Yes,  I  am. 

The  mounting  of  what  is  called  the  mysterious  ladder,  is  the  most 
distinguished  ceremony  in  this  degree.     It  is  thus  represented : 


This  ladder  is  an  astronomical  riddle,  founded  on  the  progress  of 
the  sun  through  seven  signs  of  the  zodiac,  namely  from  Aries  to  Libra 
inclusive. 

In  expounding  this  riddle,  I  shall  avail  myself  of  the  solution,  by 


*In  the  East,  any  person  preferred  to  honors,  bore  a  scepter  or  staff  of  honor,  and 
sometimes  a  plate  of  gold  on  the  forehead,  called  Cadosh,  or  Caduceus^  signifying  a 
sacred  person.     (Sea  supra.) 

44 


346  ANALYSIS    OF    FREEMASONRY: 

Dupuis,  of  the  fable  of  Hercules,  one  of  the  names  of  the  sun,  whose 
pretended  labors  are  shown  to  be  a  mere  allegory  of  the  course  of  that 
luminary. 

•  Whether  the  names  given  to  the  steps  of  the  ladder,  have  a  mean- 
ing in  any  language,  or  are  here  used  arbitrarily,  I  know  not.  I  give 
them  as  published  by  Bernard,  with  the  significations  annexed. 

Previously  to  the  candidates  mounting  the  ladder,  he  is  taught  to 
pronounce  the  names  of  the  seven  steps,  and  is  sworn  to  observe  the 
injunctions  pretended  to  be  indicated  thereby.  After  he  has  pro- 
nounced the  last  word,  in  the  seventh  step,  the  Grand  Commander  says, 
by  the  seven  conditions,  and  by  the  power  that  is  transmitted  to  me, 
which  I  have  acquired  by  my  discretion,  my  untired  travels,  zeal,  fer- 
vor a.nd  conslaibcy,  I  receive  you  Grand  Inspector  of  all  lodges.  Grand 
Elect  Knight  Templar,  and  to  take  rank  among  the  Knights  of 
Kadosh,  or  White  and  Black  Eagle,  which  we  bear  the  name  of:  1 
desire  you  not  to  forget  it.  It  is  indispensable  for  you,  my  brother,  to 
mount  the  mysterious  ladder,  which  you  see  there ;  it  will  serve  to 
instruct  you  in  the  mysteries  of  our  order,  and  it  is  absolutely  necessary 
that  you  should  have  a  true  knowledge  of  it.  The  candidate  then 
ascends  the  ladder.  When  he  is  on  the  seventh  or  highest  step,  and  - 
has  pronounced  the  three  last  words,  the  ladder  is  lowered  and  the 
candidate  passes  over  it,  because  he  cannot  retire  the  same  way,  as  he 
would  in  such  case  be  obliged  to  go  back,  against  which  he  has  taken 
an  obligation.  He  then  reads  the  words  at  the  bottom  of  the  ladder, 
ne  plus  ultra. 

It  has  been  the  custom  of  the  manufacturers  of  masonic  degrees  to 
entitle  the  last,  for  the  time  being,  the  ne  plus  ultra ;  which  being  suc- 
ceeded by  others,  the  latter,  like  more  of  the  last  words  of  Mr.  Baxter^ 
throw  the  former  into  the  back  ground.  So,  the  Grand  Commander, 
in  addressing  the  candidate,  calls  "  This  order  the  last,  degree  of 
masonry."  The  attention,  therefore,  of  the  candidate,  when  arrived 
at  the  top  of  the  ladder,  is  directed  to  the  ne  plus  ultra  below. 

The  candidate's  retiring  by  a  different  way  from  that  by  which  he 
ascended,  is  in  imitation  of  the  course  of  the  sun.  The  following 
fenciful  description  of  the  laws  which  govern  the  stellary  system,  is 
given  by  Mackey,  (p.  139.) 

"  In  the  oblong  zodiac  of  Tentyra,  each  of  the  twelve  signs  is  divided 
into  three  parts  of  ten  degrees,  and  each  part  is  represented  by  a  human 
figure,  (with  attributes  expressive  of  his  functions,)  called  a  Decan; 
^nd  as  each  sign  of  the  zodiac  has  three  of  these,  the  first  of  each  was 


KNIGHT    OF    KADOSH.  347 

called  a  powerful  leader  of  three.  To  this  company  of  thirty-six  Decans 
they  attributed  the  management  of  the  seasons.  These  were  the  jpow- 
ers  whose  functions  were  more  durable  than  those  of  the  twelve  zodi- 
acal constellations,  which  are  still  found  to  alter  their  position  evary 
2,000  years,  relative  to  the  season :  and  to  move,  in  that  time,  through 
a  space  of  thirty  degrees  from  the  equinoctial  points.  Not  so  the  more 
powerful  and  constant  gods,  called  the  Decans,  or  Eloim  ;  those  of  that 
rank  which  are  fixed  at  the  equator,  are  still  supposed  to  compel  the 
sun  to  shine  twelve  hours  a  day  all  the  world  over  ;  and  those  at  the 
opposite  parts  of  the  equator,  constantly  propel  the  sun  the  same  way 
through  their  dominions,  that  is,  those  at  the  spring  node  will  not 
suffer  the  sun  to  pass  out  of  their  palace  the  same  way  by  which  he 
entered ;  but  order  him  to  move  on  to  the  sign  more  northward. 
This  is  known  to  be  the  constant  order  of  the  sun,  moon,  and  planets." 

First  Step  of  the  Mysterious  Ladder, 

The  name  designating  the  first  step,  is  Isedakah,  which  is  defined 
righteousness. 

This,  I  apprehend,  has  an  allusion  to  the  sun  in  the  vernal  equi- 
nox, in  the  month  of  March,  when  the  days  and  nights  are  equal  all 
over  the  world,  and  when  the  sun,  after  having  been  long  in  the 
southern  hemisphere,  passes  the  line,  in  order  to  dispense  his  favors 
equally  to  the  north ;  which  is  doing  justice  to  all,  agreeably  to  the 
above  definition. 

Second  Step. 

The  second  step  is  Shor-laban,  {white  ox,  figuratively.)  This  is 
the  only  step,  the  definition  of  which  is  literally  true ;  which,  as  it 
might  lead  to  an  interpretation  of  the  meaning  of  the  mysteriotis  lad- 
der, is  thus  falsely  denominated  figurative. 

Taurus,  the  bull,  is  the  second  sign  of  the  zodiac,  into  which  the 
sun  enters  on  the  21st  of  April.  His  entry  into  this  sign  is  marked 
by  the  setting  of  Orion,  who,  in  mythological  language,  is  said  to  be  in 
love  with  the  Pleiades ;  and  by  the  rising  of  the  latter. 

Third  Step. 

The  third  step  is  called  Mathok,  (sweetness.) 
The  third  sign  of  the  zodiac  is  Jemini,  into  which  the  sun  enteis 
in  the  mild,  pleasant  month  of  May,    "  ♦  Canst  thou  hinder  the  sweet 


348  ANALYSIS    OF   FREEMASONRY: 

influences  of  Pleiades  or  loose  the  bands  of  Orion.' — (Job.)  Now, 
the  Pleiades  were  denominated,  by  the  Romans,  Vergilia,  from  their 
formerly  rising  when  the  spring  commenced ;  and  their  sweet  influ- 
ences blessed  the  year  by  the  beginning  of  spring." — (Identity  of  the 
Hebrew  and  Druidical  religions.) 

Fourth  Step. 

The  fourth  step  is  Emunah,  (truth  in  disguise.) 

The  fourth  sign  is  Cancer,  into  which  the  sun  enters  in  the  month 
of  June.  Egypt,  at  this  period,  is  enveloped  in  clouds  and  dust,  by 
which  means  the  sun  is  obscured  or  disguised ;  and  which  figuratively 
may  be  denominated  truth. 

Fifth  Step. 

The  fifth  step  is  "  Hamal  saggi,  (great  labor,)  advancement  to  the 
practice  of  Heaven.''^ 

The  fifth  sign  is  Leo,  or  that  of  the  celestial  lion,  called  the  lion  of 
Nemea,  under  which  the  sun  passes  in  July. — The  great  labor  and 
difficulties  to  which  the  sun  was  supposed  to  be  subjected  in  passing 
this  sign,  have  before  come  under  notice:  which,  also,  is  in  perfect 
accord  with  the  fable  of  the  eminent  exploit  of  Hercules,  in  killing 
the  lion  of  Np.mea. 

The  sun,  when  in  the  sign  Leo,  is  on  his  advance  towards  the 
equator,  where  the  ancients  supposed  heaven  to  be  situated. 

Sixth  Step, 

The  siTth  stftpis  Sahhal,  (a  burden,  or  patience.) 

The  sixth  sign  through  which  the  sun  passes  is  Virgo,  marked  by 
the  total  disappearance  of  the  celestial  Hydra,  called  the  hydra  of 
Lerna,  from  whose  head  springs  up  the  great  dog  and  the  crab. 

Hercules  destroys  the  hydra  of  Lerna,  but  is  annoyed  in  his  opera- 
tion by  a  sea-crab  which  bit  him  in  the  foot. — Appolodorus  says,  that 
whenever  Hercules  lopped  off  one  of  the  monster's  heads,  two  others 
sprang  up  in  the  place  of  it,  so  that  this  labor  would  have  been  endless, 
had  he  not  ordered  his  companion  lolas  to  sear  the  blood  Avith  fire, 
and  thereby  put  a  stop  to  their  reproduction;  and  thus  was  that  event 
actually  represented  in  a  fine  picture  in  the  temple  of  Delphi. — 
(Mayo.) 


KNIGHT    OF    KADOSH.  349 

Seventh  Step. 

• 
The  seventh  step  is  named  Gemulah,  Binah,  Teburiah,  (retribution, 

intdligence,  prudence.) 

The  seventh  sign  is  Libra,  into  which  the  sun  enters  at  the  com- 
mencement of  autumn,  indicated  by  the  rising  of  the  celestial  Centaur, 
the  same  that  treated  Hercules  with  hospitality.  This  constellation  is 
represented  in  the  heavens  with  a  flask  full  of  wine,  and  a  thyrsus, 
ornamented  with  branches  of  leaves  and  grapes,  the  symbol  of  the 
productions  of  the  season. 

The  sun  has  now  arrived  at  the  autumnal  equinox,  bringing  in  his 
train  the  fruits  of  the  earth ;  and  retribution  is  made  to  the  husband- 
man, in  proportion  to  his  intelligence  and  prudence. 

The  allegory  is  certainly  beautiful,  and  the  mysterious  ladder  is 
well  worthy  to  be  called  the  ne  plus  ultra  of  masonry. 

Since  preparing  the  above,  my  attention  has  been  drawn  to  a 
learned  article  on  the  same  subject,  in  a  work,  before  noticed,  by  the  Rev. 
G.  Oliver ;  which  confirms  my  conjecture  that  the  ladder  composed  a 
part  of  the  machinery  of  the  mysteries,  and  consequently  has  a  legiti. 
mate  standing  in  masonry.  It  probably  constituted  a  component  part 
of  the  royal  arch  degree,  illustrating  the  seven  steps  required  to  con- 
summate that  exalted  grade. — The  following  is  a  sketch  of  this  article : 

The  ladder  with  seven  steps,  was  used  in  the  Indian  mysteries  to 
designate  the  approach  of  the  soul  to  perfection.  The  steps  were  usu- 
ally denominated  gates.  The  meaning  is  undoubtedly  the  same ;  for 
it  is  observable  that  Jacob,  in  referring  to  the  lower  stave  of  his  ladder^ 
exclaimed,  "  this  is  the  house  of  God,  and  the  gate  of  heaven."  Here 
we  find  the  notion  of  ascending  to  heaven  by  means  of  the  practice  of 
moral  virtue,  depicted  by  the  Hebrew  patriarchs,  and  by  a  remote  idol- 
atrous nation,  under  the  idea  of  a  ladder.  These  gates  were  said  to 
be  composed  of  different  metals  of  gradually  increasing  purity :  the  - 
uppermost  stave,  which  constituted  the  summit  of  perfection,  and  opened 
a  way  to  the  residence  of  the  celestial  deities,  was  composed  of  the 
pure  and  imperishable  substance  of  gold,  and  was  under  the  protection 
oi  their  most  high  god,  the  sun. 

The  ascent  to  the  summit  of  the  paridisaical  mount  of  God,  by 
means  of  a  pyramid  consisting  of  seven  steps,  was  an  old  notion,  cer- 
tainly entertained  before  the  vision  of  Jacob ;  for  it  prevailed  amongst 
the  Mexican  savages*  ;  and  the  original  settlers  on  the  vast  continent 

♦  See  Humboldt'fi  Researches  in  America,  vol.  1,  p.  86. 


350  ANLYSis  OF  freemasonry: 

of  America  could  have  no  knowledge  of  this  vision,  either  by  tradition 
or  personal  experience. 

In  these  mysteries,  during  the  ceremony  of  initiation,  the  candidate 
was  passed  successively  through  seven  dark  and  winding  cavern; 
which  progress  was  mystically  denominated,  the  ascent  of  the  ladder. 
Each  cavern  terminated  in  a  narrow  stone  orifice,  which  formed  an 
entrance  into  its  successor.  Through  these  gates  of  purification,  the 
mortified  aspirant  was  compelled  to  squeeze  his  body  with  considera- 
ble labor ;  and  when  he  had  attained  the  summit,  he  was  said  to  have 
passed  through  the  transmigration  of  the  spheres,  to  have  accomplished 
the  ascent  of  the  soul,  and  to  merit  the  favor  of  the  celestial  deities. 

In  the  Persian  mysteries,  the  candidate,  by  a  similar  process,  was 
passed  through  seven  spacious  caverns,  connected  by  winding  pas- 
sages, each  opening  with  a  narrow  portal,  and  each  the  scene  of  some 
perilous  adventure,  to  try  his  courage  and  fortitude  before  he  was  admit- 
ted into  the  splendid /SaceZZwwi,  which  being  illuminated  with  a  thou- 
sand torches,  reflected  every  shade  of  color,  from  rich  gems  and  amulets, 
with  which  the  walls  were  copiously  bedecked.  The  dangerous  pro- 
gress was  denominated,  ascending  the  ladder  of  perfection. 

.  From  this  doctrine  has  arisen  the  tale  of  Rustam,  who  was  the 
Persian  Hercules,  and  Dive  Sepid,  or  the  White  Giant. — (Fab.  Pag. 
Idol.  V.  iii,  p.  328.) 

"■Cai-Caus,  the  successor  of  Cai-Cobab,  the  first  monarch  of  the 
Caianian  dynasty,  is  instigated  by  the  song  of  a  minstrel  to  attempt  the 
conquest  of  Mazenderaun,  which  is  celebrated  as  a  perfect  earthly 
Paradise." 

This  celestial  abode  refers  to  the  splendid  saeellum  of  the  Persian 
Epopia,  which  was  an  emblematical  representation  of  heaven. 

"  Cai-Caus  fails  in  his  enterprize ;  for  the  sacred  country  is  guarded 
by  the  White  Giant,  who  smites  him  and  all  his  troops  with  blindness^ 
and  makes  them  his  prisoners." 

This  is  a  literal  account  of  the  first  stage  of  initiation,  which  in  the 
mysteries  always  commences  with  darkness.  In  those  of  Britain,  the 
candidate  is  designated  as  a  blind  man.  And  the  captivity  of  Cai- 
Caus  and  his  Persians  in  the  cavern,  under  the  rigid  guardianship  of 
the  Dive,  is  but  a  figurative  representation  of  the  candidate's  inclosure 
under  the  Pastos ;  and  this  place  of  penance  in  the  Celtic  mysteries, 
which  had  many  ceremonies  in  common  with  those  of  Persia,  (Borl* 
Ant.  of  Corn.,  b.  ii.  c.  22,)  was  said  to  be  guarded  by  the  gigantic  deity 
Buanawr,  armed  with  a  drawn  sword,  who  is  represented  as  a  most 


KNIGHT    OF    KADOSH.  351 

powerful  and  vindictive  being,  <:apable  in  his  fury  of  making  heaven, 
earth,  and  hell  to  tremble. — (Dav.  Notes  on  Taiiein's  Cad  Goddeu.) 
In  the  Gothic  mysteries,  the  same  place  of  captivity  and  penance  is 
fabled  to  be  guarded  by  Heimdall,  whose  trumpet  emits  so  loud  a 
blast,  that  the  sound  is  heard  through  all  the  worlds. — (Edda  Fab.) 

"  In  this  emergency  the  king  sends  a  messenger  to  Zaul,  the  father 
of  the  hero  Rustam,  begging  his  immediate  assistance.  For  the 
greater  despatch,  Rustam  takes  the  shorter,  though  more  dangerous 
road,  and  departs  alone,  mounted  on  his  charger  Rakesh." 

Here  Rustam  enters  upon  the  dreadful  and  dangerous  business  of 
initiation,  mounted,  says  the  legend,  upon  the  charger  Rakesh,  or  more 
properly  Rakshi.  This  was  a  horrible  winged  animal,  whose  com- 
mon food  is  said  to  have  been  serpents  and  dragons.  Now  these  rep- 
tiles, together  with  monsters  compounded  of  two  or  more  animals,  were 
the  ordinary  machinery  used  in  the  mysteries  to  prove  the  courage 
and  fortitude  of  the  aspirant,  during  his  progress  through  the  seven 
stages  of  regeneration. 

"  The  course  which  he  chooses  is  styled,  the  road  of  the  seven 
stages  ;  and  at  each  of  the  first  six  he  meets  with  a  different  adventure, 
by  which  his  persevering  courage  is  severely  tried." 

At  each  of  the  seven  stages  the  candidate  really  encountered  many 
dangers ;  and  vanquished  a  multitude  of  Dives,  dragons,  and  enchanters, 
who  in  succession  opposed  his  progress  to  perfection. — (Shah  name,  in 
Richardson's  Dissert.  East.  Nat.)  Being  pantomimically  enacted 
during  the  process  of  initiation,  and  the  reiterated  attacks  prosecuted 
with  unrelenting  severity,  instances  have  occurred  where  the  poor 
affrighted  wretch  has  absolutely  expired  through  excess  of  fear. 

"  Having  at  length  however  fought  his  way  to  the  seventh,  he  dis- 
covers his  prince  and  the  captive  Persians  ;  when  he  learns  from  Cai- 
Caus,  that  nothing  will  restore  his  sight  but  the  application  of  three 
drops  of  blood  from  the  heart  of  the  White  Giants 

The  symbolical  three  drops  of  blood,  had  its  counterpart  in  all  the 
mysteries  of  the  ancient  world  ;  for  the  number  three  was  ineffable,  and 
the  conservator  of  many  virtues.  In  Britain,  the  emblem  was  three 
drops  of  water ;  in  Mexico,  as  in  this  legend,  three  drops  of  blood  ;  in 
India,  it  was  a  beh  composed  of  three  triple  threads;  in  China,  the 
three  strokes  of  the  letter  Y,  etc.  etc. 

•'  Upon  this,  he  attacks  his  formidable  enemy  in  the  Cavern  where 
he  was  accustomed  to  dwell;  and  having  -torn  out  his  heart,  after  an 
obstinate  combat,  he  infuses  the  prescribed  three  drops  into  the  oyes  of 
Cai-Caus,  who  immediately  regains  his  powers  of  vision^ 


352  ANALYSIS  Of  freemasonry: 

In  this  tale  we  have  the  theological  ladder  connected  with  the  system 
of  Persian  initiation  transferred  from  mythology  to  romance ;  and  the 
coincidence  is  sufficiently  striking  to  impress  the  most  ordinary- 
observer  with  the  strict  propriety  of  the  application.  The  candidate 
comes  off  conqueror,  and  is  regularly  restored  to  light,  after  having 
given  full  proof  of  his  courage  and  fortitude,  by  surmounting  all  oppos- 
ing dangers.  Father  Angelo,  who  went  out  as  a  missionary  into  the 
East  about  1663,  says,  that  in  the  midst  of  a  vast  plain  between  Shiraz 
and  Shuster,  he  saw  a  quadrangular  monument  of  stupendous  size> 
which  was  said  to  have  been  erected  in  memory  of  this  great  enter- 
prize  of  the  hero  Rustam.  The  fact  is,  that  this  quadrangular  inclosure 
was  an  ancient  place  of  initiation  ;  and  from  a  confused  remembrance 
of  the  scenes  of  mimic  adventure  which  were  reprepresented  within 
its  seven  secret  caverns,  the  fabulous  labors  of  Rustam  had  doubtless 
their  origin. 

Here  the  author  has  evidently  mistaken  the  copy  for  the  arche- 
type. The  scenes  of  mimic  adventure,  alluded  to,  undoubtedly  origi- 
nated from  the  fahulaus  labors  of  Rustam,  the  Persian  Hercules.  It 
has  been  shown  that  Hercules  was  one  of  the  names  by  which  the  sun 
was  designated,*  and  that  the  perilous  adventures  attributed  to  a  fabu- 
lous character  to  whom  the  name  was  given,  was  a  mere  allegory  on 
the  progress  of  that  luminary  through  the  signs  of  the  zodiac ;  of 
which  the  tale  of  Rustam  is  another  version. 

The  order  of  Noachites,  or  Chevaliers  Prussian. 

This  order,  there  is  reason  to  believe,  was  instituted  by  the  ancient 
Prussians.  It  claims  priority  over  that  of  the  freemasons  of  England. 
The  author  of  an  expose  of  the  ritual  of  that  institution,  which  will  be 
noticed  below,  gives  just  fifty-three  years  between  the  periods  of  the 
two  establishments  ;  and  says,  *'  This  tradition  is  firmly  believed."  In 
corroboration  of  this  fact,  Dr.  Anderson  observes,  "  The  first  name  of 
Masons,  according  to  some  old  traditions,  was  Noachidse." 

The  ceremonies  of  the  Noachites  seem  to  have  served  in  some 
measure,  as  a  model  upon  which  those  of  freemasonry  are  founded- 
Although  the  scene  of  the  establishment  of  this  order  is  laid  at  the 
Tower  of  Babel,  instead  of  the  Temple  of  Solomon,  the  craft  of  masonry, 
as  in  the  freemasons'  society,  is  made  use  of  to  cover  the  real  design  of 


*  Osiris,  Bacchus,  Cronus,  Pluto,  and  Hercules,  are  all  equally  the  sun.— (Faber  Dis. 
on  the  Myet.  of  the  Cabiri,  v.  Ij  p.  17.) 


ORDER    OF    NOACHITES.  353 

the  institution,  the  maintaining  of  religious  dogmas,  if  not  the  recovery 
of  independence. 

The  following  remarks,  in  Guthrie's  sketch  of  the  history  of 
ancient  Prussia  and  Poland,  will  tend  to  show  at  what  time  this  insti- 
tution was  probably  formed. 

Speaking  of  Poland,  he  says,  "  From  this  period  [830]  for  some 
centuries  we  have  no  very  certain  records  of  the  history  of  Poland. 
The  title  of  duke  was  retained  till  the  year  999,  when  Boleslaus  (the  I.) 
assumed  the  title  of  king,  and  conquered  Moraviar  Prussia,  and  Bohe- 
mia, making  them  tributary  to  Poland." 

Of  Prussia. — •'  The  ancient  history  of  Prussia,  like  that  of  other 
kingdoms,  it  lost  in  the  clouds  ot  fiction  and  romance.  The  inhabi- 
tants appear  to  have  been  a  brave  and  warlike  people.  They  were 
descended  from  the  Sclavonians,  and  refused  to  submit  to  the  neigh- 
boring princes,  who,  on  pretence  of  converting  them  to  Christianity* 
wanted  to  reduce  them  to  slavery.  They  made  a  noble  stand  against 
the  kings  of  Poland ;  one  of  whom,  Boleslaus  IV.  they  defeated  and 
killed  in  1163.  They  continued  Pagans,  till  the  time  of  the  latter 
crusades,  about  the  year  1227." 

From  the  foregoing  statements,  it  appears  that  the  sway  of  Poland 
over  Prussia,  obtained  in  999,  was  not  of  long  duration ;  and  it  ig 
reasonable  to  conjecture,  that  soon  after  the  conquest,  the  people  of 
Prussia  established  the  order  of  Noachites.  It  was  evidently  a  military 
institution,  and  undoubtedly  intended  as  a  rallying  point,  to  operate  as 
occasions  might  occur,  for  the  recovery  of  the  civil  and  religious 
liberties  of  the  nation. 

Admitting  that  the  society  of  Noachites  was  founded  in  the  year 
1000,  which  is  highly  probable,  and  provided  the  foregoing  tradition 
be  correct,  the  establishment  of  freemasonry  in  England,  would  have 
occurred  about  the  middle  of  the  eleventh  century,  which  is  as  late  as 
it  is  likely  to  have  been  neglected,  after  the  edict  of  Canute  prohibiting 
the  open  worship  of  the  Druids. 

Bernard,  in  his  account  of  this  order,  says,  "  The  grand  master, 
general  of  the  order,  whose  title  is  chevalier  grand  commander,  is 
Frederic  William,  king  of  Prussia.  His  ancestors,  for  three  hundred 
years,  have  been  protectors  of  this  order.  The  knights  were  formerly 
known  by  the  name  of  Noachites. 

"  The  Noachites,  now  called  Prussian  Chevaliers,  are  descended 
from  Peleg,  the  grand  architect  of  the  tower  of  Babel,  their  origin 
being  more  ancient  than  that  of  the  masons  descended  from  Hiram. — 

45 


354  ANALYSIS    OF    FREEMASONRY: 

The  knights  assemble  on  the  night  of  the  full  moon  in  the  month  of 
March,  [the  vernal  equinox]  in  a  secret  place,  to  hold  their  lodges ; 
and  they  cannot  initiate  a  candidate  into  the  mysteries  of  this  order 
unless  by  the  light  of  the  moon." 

Great  innovations  have  been  introduced  into  the  ceremonies  of  this 
order.  I  have  a  copy  of  its  ritual,  which,  from  its  antiquity  and 
Druidical  style,  may  be  presumed  genuine.  It  was  reprinted  from  a 
London  copy,  by  John  Holt,  New- York,  1768.  As  a  curiosity,  and  as 
bearing  a  relationship  to  the  ancient  mysteries,  I  will  give  an  abstract 
of  it. 

The  order  consists  of  two  degrees,  called  Minor  and  Major ;  and 
the  officers  form  what  masonically  may  be  termed  a  Chapter,  to  which 
the  other  members  are  not  admitted.  This  chapter  comports  with  the 
royal  arch  of  freemasonry ;  for  here  the  secret  word,  Belusy  is  revealed, 
which,  the  reader  is  aware,  is  the  same  as  Osiris,  personated  by 
Hiram.  The  expounder  of  the  order  appears  to  have  committed  an 
error,  in  giving  this  word  at  the  opening  of  the  minor's  degree  j 
because  it  is  expressly  said  afterwards,  that  it  was  unknown  to  all  but 
officers. 

Minor's  Degree. 

Examiner.  I  When  did  Masonry  begin  ?  Respondent.  About  one 
hundred  and  fifty  four  years  after  Noah's  flood,  at  the  building  of 
Babel's  tower.  Who  was  grandmaster  there?  Nimrod,*  called  by 
masons  Belus.  [Not  Peleg,  as  modern  masons  have  it.]  Where  was 
the  first  lodge  held  ? — In  a  pleasant  plain  of  Babylon,  called  Shinar, 
on  the  banks  of  the  river  Tygris.     | 

In  what  manner  were  you  made  ? — I  was  led  to  a  door,  where  a 
man  stood  with  a  drawn  sword  in  his  hand,  who  asked  my  friend  what 
he  wanted.  What  did  your  friend  reply? — To  have  me  made  a 
mason.  Did  he  admit  you? — Yes,  he  struck  the  door  with  his  sword, 
upon  which  it  instantly  flew  open  ;  my  friend  then  led  me  by  the  hand 
into  a  very  dark  room,  and  then  the  door  was  shut.  What  succeeded 
this  ? — My  friend  then  said  with  a  loud  voice, 

Here  stands  a  candidate  for  masonry, 
Who  fain  would  know  our  art  and  mystery  : 
Shew  him  the  light  by  which  we  work,  and  then 
Perhaps  he'll  learn  the  art,  like  other  men. 

♦Nimrod,  which  signifies  a  rebel  in  the  Jewish  and  Chaldean  language,  was  the 
name  given  him  by  Moses ;  but  in  Chaldea  he  was  called  Belus,  which  signified  lord; 
and  afterwards  was  worshiped  as  a  god  by  many  nations,  under  the  name  of  Bel,  or 
Baal,  and  became  the  Bacchus  of  the  ancients,  or  Bar-Chus,  the  son  of  Chus. 


ORDER    OF    NOACHITES.  355 

Upon  this  a  door  flew  open,  and  discovered  a  room  extremely  lights 
out  of  which  came  three  men,  with  drawn  swords,  one  of  whom  said, 
deliver  your  friend  to  us.  Upon  this  my  friend  delivered  me  into  their 
care,  and  I  was  ushered  into  the  lodge,  one  walking  before,  and  one 
on  each  side,  and  my  friend  in  the  rear.  Thus  was  I  brought  out  of 
darkness  into  light. 

What  was  done  after  this  ? — I  was  stripped  naked,  in  order  that 
all  the  lodge  might  be  well  assured  they  were  not  imposed  upon  by  a 
woman.*'  What  was  then  done? — The  master  clothed  me  with  the 
badge  of  innocence.  (This  is  a  loose  white  garment,  generally  made 
of  fine  linen,  and  sometimes  of  silk.)  He  then  took  me  by  the  right 
hand,  and  placed  me  in  the  centre  of  the  brethren  ;  he  then  ordered  me 
to  kneel  down  on  both  my  knees,  and  held  to  my  throat  the  point  of  a 
sword  which  he  had  in  his  hand,  and  then  addressed  me  as  follows : 

"  Sir, — You  are  now  going  to  be  admitted  a  member  of  this  ancient 
and  honorable  fraternity,  and  it  is  expected  that  you  will  lay  yourself 
under  the  subsequent  obligation. 

"  You  shall  not  reveal  to  any  person  or  persons,  either  by  word  of 
mouth,  or  your  own  hand-writing,  or  cause  to  be  revealed  in  any  man- 
ner whatever,  any  part  or  parts,  point  or  points,  or  any  traditions, 
which  have  been,  are  now,  or  shall  hereafter  be  held  as  a  secret  among 
masons,  unless  to  an  honest  man,  who  you  know  is  a  mason,  or  to 
the  master  or  wardens  of  any  regular  Lodge. 

"  And  as  it  was  always  esteemed  by  the  masons  of  old,  that  to  swear 
by  the  sword  was  the  most  binding  of  all  obligations,  so  we  do  insist 
and  require  you  solemnly  to  kiss  the  edge  of  this  sword  presented  to 
your  throat,  as  a  signification  of  your  full  consent  to,  and  approbation 
of,  the  above  particulars. 

"  Your  well  performing  this  injunction,  will  make  you  ever 
esteemed  by  this  venerable  body,  as  the  contrary  will  render  you  guilty 
of  a  breach  of  the  most  sacred  band  of  human  society,  and  consequently 
degrade  you  from  the  character  of  a  man  of  honor,  which  every  mason 
ought  to  preserve  more  carefully  than  his  life."* 

Are  you  desirous  of  knowing  the  Major's  secrets  ? — Yes.  Ex, 
Your  good  behaviour  alone  will  not  obtain  them. 


*  This  is  a  sheer  hoax  upon  the  order.  The  real  intention,  as  in  the  mysteries  and 
freemasonry,  is  to  represent  mao  in  a  state  of  nature,  hefore  the  arts,  and  particularly 
that  of  making  clothing,  were  invented.  The  candidate  before  initiation,  is  lo  jked  upon 
as  an  uncultivated  savage;  his  initiation  civilizes  and  regenerates  him.— Edit. 

*  The  freemasons,  at  the  revival  of  the  order  in  1717,  would  have  done  well  to  have 
adopted  this  oath,  instead  of  those  of  Hiram-masonry.— Edit. 


356  ANALYSIS  OF    FREEMASONRY,   ETC. 


R.    By  that  alone  they  could  not  be  obtain'd, 
But  I  by  that  a  Golden  Signet  eain'd  ; 
Which  will  admit  me  into  that  degree, 
That  I  may  work  among  the  Majors  Free. 

What  is  that  signet  ? — A  ring.  Ex.  Produce  it  ? — R.  Behold  it 
here.     (Shewing  the  ring.) 

Ex.    Attend,  my  brethren,  all  that  round  me  stand, 
While  I  obey  great  Belus'  dread  command. 
Our  brother  here,  upon  examination, 
Desires  I'll  place  him  in  a  higher  station  ; 
A  Minor's  character  has  well  maintain' d, 
And  answer'd  all  things  well ;  by  w  hich  he's  gain'd 
The  Signet  rare,  which  Belus  did  ordain 
For  such  as  could  the  Minor's  art  attain, 
That  they  may  to  the  tow'r  repair,  and  be 
Receiv'd  to  work  among  the  Majors  Free. 
'Tis  then  my  will  and  pleasure  that  he  may 
Begin  to  work,  and  enter  into  pay. 

Ceremony  of  Installment  of  Officers. 

Where  were  you  installed  ? — In  the  observatory.  How  high  was 
it  ? — On  the  top  of  the  tower.  How  got  you  there  ? — By  a  winding 
ascent.  In  what  manner  were  you  installed? — I  first  passed  the 
Minor's  examination,  and  then  the  Major's ;  after  which  Belus  informed 
me,  the  brethren  had  unanimously  agreed  to  elect  me  into  the  office  of 
which  he  invested  me  with  the  badge.  Have  the  officers  a  secret 
word  ? — Yes.     How  did  you  receive  it  ? — 

On  my  two  knees  he  ordered  me  to  kneel, 
Before  he  could  the  secret  ucrd  reveal ; 
A  word  to  all  but  officers  unknown, 
Because  we  give  it  when  we  are  alone ; 
The  word  is  Belus,  be  it  known  to  thee, 
'  Tujcw  that  great  man  gave  birth  to  Masonry- 


CHAPTER    VIIL 

MISELLANEOUS      ARTICLES. 


Ceremonies  observed  in  laying  the  foundation  stone  of  Freemason!  s- Hall ^ 
London^  1775;  and  its  dedication,  in  1776. 

The  similarity  of  practices  in  masonry  and  the  ancient  rites  of  Bac- 
chus,  is  fully  exemplified  in  these  ceremonies.  The  Caduceus  or  magi- 
cal wand  of  Mercury,  the  mysterious  chest,  and  the  three  pitchers,  con- 
taining corn,  wine,  and  oil,  are  appropriately  used.  This  will  appear 
by  the  following-  short  abstract  of  the  transactions  on  those  occasions* 
as  published  by  Smith: 

"  The  first  stone  of  mason's  hall  was  laid  by  the  Rt.  Hon.  Robert 
Edward  Lord  Peter,  baron  of  Writtle,  grand  master  of  the  masons  of 
England,  accompanied  by  the  worshipful  Rowland  Holt,  etc. 

About  twelve  o'clock  the  procession  arrived,  and  continued  three 
times  round  the  ground,  where  the  hall  was  to  be  erected.  The  grand 
master  then  deposited  the  foundation  stone  with  the  usual  formalities. 
After  which  the  deputy  grand  master  presented  the  square  to  the  grand 
master,  when  his  lordship  tried  the  corners  of  the  stone,  and  then 
returned  it  to  the  deputy,  who  gave  it  to  the  architect.  The  senior 
grand  warden  next  presented  the  level  to  the  grand  master,  who  there- 
with tried  the  stone  horizontally,  and  returned  it  as  before.  The 
junior  grand  warden  then  presented  the  plumb-rule  to  the  grand  master, 
who  applied  it  properly,  and  returned  it  as  before.  His  lordship  then 
struck  the  stone  three  times  with  a  mallet,  on  which  the  grand  treasurer 
waved  his  wand,  and  the  brethren  joined  in  the  grand  honors  of  masdhry- 
(This  is  done  by  clapping  hands  three  times  three.)*  The  following 
anthem  was  then  sung : 

To  Heaven's  high  Architect  all  praise, 
All  praise,  all  eratitude  be  given, 
Who  deigned  the  hunian  soul  to  raise, 
By  mystic  secrets  sprung  from  heaven. 

Chorus.     Thrice  repeated. 
Sound  aloud  the  great  Jehovah's  praise, 
To  him  the  dome,  the  temple  raisfe. 


*0n  laying  the  foundation  of  the  Royal  Infirmary  of  Edinburgh,  in  1738,  each  of  tho 
brethren  in  their  turns  gave  three  strokes  upon  the  corner  stone  with  an  iron  mallet, 
which  was  succeeded  by  three  clarions  of  the  trumpet,  three  huzzas,  and  three  claps  of 
hands.— (See  Lawrie,  p.  155.}— Edit. 


358  DEDICATION    OF 

An  oration  was  then  pronounced.  At  the  conclusion  of  which,  the 
grand  treasurer  again  waved  his  wand,  and  the  grand  honors  wer^ 
given  as  before.  A  grand  piece  of  music  was  then  performed  by  the 
instruments,  and  an  ode  on  masonry  rehearsed ;  after  which  the  pro- 
cession was  resumed,  and  continued  three  times  round  as  before. 

The  whole  ceremony  was  conducted  with  the  greatest  order  and 
decorum.  The  grand  master  and  the  rest  of  the  brethren  then  pro- 
ceeded through  the  city  in  procession  in  their  carriages,  without  expos- 
ing any  of  the  ensignia  of  the  order,  to  Leathersellers  hall,  where  an 
elegant  entertainment  was  provided,  and  the  evening  concluded  with 
great  joy  and  festivity." 

Dedication  of  the  Hall,  in  1776. 

At  half  past  twelve  the  procession  entered  the  hall  in  the  following- 
order  : 

Grand  Tiler,  with  a  drawn  sword — four  tilers,  carrying  the  lodge 
[the  mjj^sterious  chest,!  covered  with  white  satin — master  of  the  seventh 
lodge,  carrying  two  silver  pitchers,  containing  wine  and  oil — the  master 
of  the  sixth  lodge,  carrying  a  gold  pitcher,  containing  corn — the  first 
light  carried  by  the  master  of  the  fifth  lodge — architect,  carrying  square, 
level,  and  plumb-rule — master  of  the  fourth  lodge,  carrying  the  biblcf 
compasses,  and  square,  on  a  velvet  cushion — grand  chaplain, — grand  sec- 
retary, with  the  bag,  [purporting  to  contain  private  papers  appertaining 
to  the  affairs  of  the  lodge — a  mere  formality] — grand  treasurer,  with 
the  staff  [wand,] — second  light,  carried  by  the  master  of  the  third 
lodge — the  third  light,  carried  by  the  master  of  the  second  lodge — 
master  of  the  senior  lodge,  carrying  the  book  of  constitutions — grand 
sword-bearer,  carrying  the  sword  of  state — grand  master. 

On  the  procession  reaching  the  grand  master's  chair,  the  brethren 
who  formed  it  were  proclaimed,  and  from  that  station  walked  round  the 
ha\f  three  times.  The  lodge  was  then  placed  in  the  center  of  the  halL 
and  the  three  lights,  with  one  gold  and  two  silver  pitchers,  con- 
taining corn,  wine,  and  oil,  were  placed  thereon;  the  bible,  com- 
passes, square," and  book  of  constitutions,  on  a  velvet  cushion,  being 
placed  on  a  pedestal,  the  foundation  stone  anthem  was  sung. 

His  lordship  then  expressed  his  approbation  of  the  architect's  con- 
duct, and  commanded  the  proper  officers  to  receive  back  the  implements 
which  had  been  delivered  him  at  laying  the  foundation  stone.  A  sol- 
emn piece  of  music  was  next  performed,  during  which  the  ladies,  and 
those  who  were  not  masons,  retired.  The  grand  master  then  ordered 
the  hall  to  be  tiled,  on  which  the  lodge  [the   little  chest,]  was  uncoV 


freemasons'  hall.  S59 

ered,  and  the  grand  secretary  informed  the  grand  master,  that  it  was 
the  desire  of  the  society  to  have  the  hall  dedicated  to  masonry ;  on 
which  the  grand  master  commanded  the  grand  officers  to  assist  in  that 
ceremony,  during  which  the  organ  kept  playing  solemn  music.  The 
grand  officers  then  walked  round  the  lodge,  in  procession  three  times, 
stopping  each  time  for  the  ceremony  of  dedication;  when  the  grand 
master  in  solemn  form  declared  the  hall  dedicated  to  masonry,  to  virtue, 
and  to  u?iiversal  charily  and  benevolence  ;  which  being  proclaimed, 
the  grand  honors  were  given  as  before :  the  lodge  was  then  covered, 
and  the  ladies  introduced  amidst  the  acclamation  of  the  brethren :  next 
a  grand  anthem  was  sung.  An  oration  on  masonry  was  then  deliv- 
ered by  William  Dodd,  L.  L.  D.  grand  chaplain." 

As  the  method  of  disposing  of  the  corn,  wine,  and  oil,  is  not  stated 
in  the  foregoing  account,  I  will  subjoin  the  custom  in  this  respect,  which 
is  observed  at  laying  the  foundation  stone  of  public  structures,  and  at 
the  dedication  of  mason's  halls,  as  given  by  Webb  and  others. 

"  The  gold  and  silver  vessels  are  presented  to  the  grand  master ; 
and  he,  according  to  ancient  ceremony,  pours  the  corn,  the  wine,  and 
the  oil,  which  they  contain,  on  the  stone,  saying, 

"  May  the  all  bounteous  Author  of  Nature  bless  the  inhabitants  of 
this  place  with  all  the  necessaries,  conveniencies,  and  comforts  of  life; 
assist  in  the  erection  and  completion  of  this  building;  protect  the  work- 
men against  every  accident,  and  long  preserve  this  structure  from 
decay;  a.nd  grant  to  us  all,  in  needed- supply,  the  corn  of  nourishment, 
the  wine  of  refreshment,  and  the  oil  of  joy. 

•  Amen  !  So  mote  it  be  !  Amen  /' 

"  He  then  strikes  the  stone  thrice  with  the  mallet,  an^  the  public 
honors  of  masonry  are  given." 

In  the  dedication  of  mason's  halls,  the  corn,  wine,  and  oil,  are  poured 
upon  the  lodge,  that  is,  as  before  observed,  the  little  mysterious  chest, 
Aaron,  or  ark. 

The  processions  three  times  round  the  foundation,  and  the  hall 
when  finished  ;  the  three  lights  ;  the  clapping  hands  three  times ;  strik- 
ing the  stone  thrice,  etc.  are  in  conformity  to  the  customs  of  the  ancients ; 
which  was  done  by  them  in  reverence  of  the  deity,  and  in  acknowledg' 
ment  of  their  belief  in  the  triplicity  of  his  nature  or  attributes, 

"  The  Druid  priests,  in  their  worship,  looked  towards  the  sun — - 
they  retained  many  of  the  Ammonian  rites, — they  are  said  to  have 
made  mystical  processions  round  their  consecrated  firts  sunwise  befora 
they  proceeded  to  sacrifice." — [Hutchinson,  p.  69.] 


360  DEDICATION    OF 

In  short,  the  agreement  of  the  foregoing  customs  of  masons  with 
the  observances  of  the  ancients  on  similar  occasions,  will  appear  evi* 
dent  from  the  folio  .ving  historical  facts  : 

"  We  learn  from  Festus,  that  the  Etrurians  had  books  concerning 
the  ceremonies  observed  at  the  founding  o{ cities,  altars,  temples,  walls^ 
and  gates.  Plutarch  tells  us,  that  Romulus,  before  he  laid  the  founda- 
tion of  Rome,  sent  for  men  from  Etruria,  who  informed  him  in  all  the 
punctilios  of  ceremony  which  he  was  to  observe.  According  to  Dio- 
nysius,  they  began  with  offejing  a  sacrifice.  They  then  dug  a  ditch, 
into  which  they  threw  the  Jlrst  fruits  of  all  things  that  served  for  human 
nourishment ;  at  the  same  time  they  consulted  the  gods,  to  know  if 
the  enterprise  would  be  acceptable  to  them,  and  if  they  approved  of  the 
day  chosen  to  begin  the  work.  They  then  chalked  out  the  bounda- 
ries by  a  score  of  white  earth,  which  they  called  Terra  pura.  While 
they  were  forming  the  boundary,  they  stopped  at  certain  intervals  to 
renew  the  sacrifices.  In  these  sacrifices  they  invoked,  besides  the  gods 
of  the  country,  the  gods  to  whose  protection  the  new  city  was  recom- 
mended, which  was  done  secretly,  because  it  was  necessary  that  the 
tutelar  gods  should  be  unknown  to  the  vulgar.  In  fine,  so  much  re- 
garded was  the  day  on  which  a  city  was  founded,  that  they  kept  up 
the  memory  of  it  by  an  anniversary  festival. 

Among  the  Romans,  when  they  were  to  build  a  temple,  the  Aurus- 
pices  were  employed  to  choose  the  place  where,  and  time  when,  they 
should  begin  the  work.  This  place  was  purified  with  great  care  ;  they 
even  encircled  it  with  fillets  and  garlands.  The  Vestals  accompanied 
with  young  boys  and  girls,  washed  this  spot  of  ground  with  water, 
pure  and  clean,  and  the  priest  expiated  it  by  a  solemn  sacrificfe.  Then 
he  touched  the  stone  that  was  to  be  first  laid  in  the  foundation,  which 
was  bound  with  a  fillet ;  when  the  people,  animated  with  enthusiastic 
zeal,  threw  it  in  with  some  pieces  of  money  or  metal  which  had  never 
passed  through  the  furnace.  When  the  edifice  was  finished,  there 
was  also  a  consecration  of  it,  with  grand  ceremonies,  wherein  the  priest, 
or,  in  his  absence,  some  of  his  college  presided. — (Mayo's  Myth.  vol. 
1,  p.  141  and  297.) 

"  The  same  author,  in  treating  of  the  festivals  and  processions  of  the 
Egyptians,  observes: — "  The  Hebrews,  who  derived  from  the  Egyp- 
tians that  fatal  propensity  which  they  had  towards  idolatry,  imitated 
them  but  too  often,  not  only  in  the  solmnity  of  the  golden  calf  but  also 
in  the  ceremony  of  their  processions.  The  prophet  Amos  upbraids 
them  for  having  led  about  in  the  wilderness,  the  tabernacle  of  the  god 


freemasons"   hall.  361 

Moloch,  the  image  of  their  idol,  and  the  star  of  the  god  Rempham. 
St.  Stephen,  in  the  acts  of  the  apostles,  taxes  them  with  the  same  piece 
of  idolatry.— 'Several  other  people  practised  the  same  ceremonies, 
whether  they  had  learned  them  from  the  Egyptians,  as  is  very  proba- 
ble, or  had  invented  them  themselves." — (Vol.  1,  p.  303.) 

In  regard  to  sacrifices,  Harwood,  in  his  Grecian  Antiquities,  says, — 
"  When  the  fruits  of  the  earth  were  the  only  food  of  men,  care  was 
taken  to  reserve  a  certain  portion  for  the  gods.  The  same  custom 
was  observed  when  they  began  to  feed  upon  the  flesh  of  animals. 
Sometimes  water  was  poured  on  the  altar  or  the  head  of  the  victims, 
sometimes  honey  or  oil ;  but  in  general  they  were  sprinkled  with 
toine,  and  then  the  wood  of  the  fig  tree,  the  myrtle,  or  the  vine,  were 
burnt  upon  the  altar. — There  was  scarce  any  sacrifice  without  corn  or 
bread,  and  more  particularly  barley,  as  it  was  the  first  sort  of  corn  used 
by  the  Greeks,  after  the  diet  of  acorns  was  given  up." — (p.  146.) 

Although  masonry  copies  the  customs  of  the  ancient  nations,  it 
must  not  be  supposed  that  there  is  any  idolatry  connected  with  it.  It 
is  merely  an  idle  imitation  of  their  rites  and  ceremonies,  without  any 
reference  to  the  original  import  of  them. 

Antimasonic  Writers, 

The  Abb^  Barruel  and  Professor  Robison,  by  their  malignant  and 
false  allegations  against  the  masonic  society,  have  so  far  prejudiced  the 
minds  of  a  portion  of  the  reading  public,  as  to  cause  a  belief  that  free- 
masonry was  hostile  to  Christianity,  to  good  order,  and  to  civil  govern- 
ment. This  calumny  was  founded  solely  upon  the  aid  given  by  the 
freemasons  of  France  to  the  revolution  of  government  in  that  country, 
A  revolution  which  certainly  in  its  commencement,  met  with  the  appro- 
bation of  every  friend  of  liberty  throughout  the  civilized  world. 

Both  these  writers  were  ultra  royalists.  Barruel  was  a  French 
Jesuit  priest,  who,  on  the  breaking  out  of  the  revolution  in  France  fled 
to  Eno-land,  where  he  published  his  phillipic  against  republicanism 
and  freemasonry,  under  the  title  of  "  Memoirs,  illustrating  the  history 
of  Jacobinism."  Robinson  was  Professor  of  natural  philosophy,  and 
secretary  to  the  Royal  Society  of  Edinburgh.  His  attack  on  masonry 
and  free  governments,  is  entitled  "  Proofs  of  Conspiracy  against  all  the 
religions  and  governments  of  Europe,  carried  on  in  the  secret  meet- 
ings of  Freemasons,  llluminati  and  Reading  Societies." 

These  writers  pursue  the  common,  hackneyed  course  of  aristocracy 
against  liberty,  by  calumniating  and   vilifying   its  supporters.     No 

46 


862  ANTIMASONIC    WIRTERS. 

crime  is  too  infamous  to  be  laid  to  the  charge  of  the  most  talented  and 
virtuous  of  men.  This  disengenuous  course  shows  the  turpitude  of  the 
cause  they  espouse.  It  is  most  base  to  divert  the  reader  from  princi- 
ples to  men,  and  by  false  allegations  against  them,  to  prejudice  him 
against  their  principles.  Many  an  unsuspecting  reader  has  suffered 
his  mind  to  be  perverted,  by  this  flagitious  mode  of  argument, 

Barruel  makes  the  following  charge  against  the  order  of  masons; 

*'  I  saw  masons,  till  then  the  most  reserved,  vfYio  freely  and  openly 
declared, 'Yes,  at  length  the  grand  object  of  freemasonry  is  accom- 
plished, equality  and  liberty ;  all  men  are  equal  and  brothers ;  all  men 
sue  free.  [Monstrous.]  That  was  the  whole  substance  of  our  doctrine, 
the  object  of  our  wishes,  the  whole  of  our  grand  secret.  Sach  vvas  the 
language  I  heard  fall  from  the  most  zealous  masons,  from  those  whom 
I  have  seen  decorated  with  all  the  insignia  of  the  deepest  masonry,  and 
who  enjoyed  the  rights  of  venerable,  to  preside  over  lodges.  I  have 
heard  them  express  themselves  in  this  manner  before  those  whom, 
masons  could  c^iU  the  profane  (uninitiated,)  without  requiring  the  small- 
est secrecy,  either  from  the  men  or  women  present.  They  said  it  in  a 
tone  as  if  they  wished  all  France  should  be  acquainted  with  this  glori- 
ous achievement  of  masonry. — (Vol.  ii.  p.  149. — Hartford  ed.  1799.) 

Barruel  also  extracts  the  following  sentiment,  from  Condorcet's 
*•  Progress  of  the  human  mind,"  as  worthy  of  reprobation.  Condorcet> 
speaking  of  the  secret  associations  which  existed  in  France,  previously 
to  the  revolution,  says,  "  They  were  the  associations  of  those  generous 
men  who  dare  examine  the  foundations  of  all  power  or  authority,  and 
who  revealed  to  the  people  the  great  truths,  that  their  liberty  is  inal- 
ienable ;  that  no  prescription  can  exist  in  behalf  of  tyranny ;  that  no 
convention  can  irrevocably  sub'.ect  a  nation  to  any  particular  family  : 
that  magistrates,  whatever  may  be  their  titles,  functions  or  powers,  are 
only  the  officers,  and  not  the  masters  of  the  people:  that  the  people 
always  preserve  the  right  of  revoking  those  powers  emanating  from 
them  alone,  whether  they  judge  it  has  been  abused,  or  consider  it  to  be 
useless  to  continue  them.  In  short,  that  the  people  have  the  right  of 
punishing  the  abuse  as  well  as  well  as  of  revoking  the  power." 

"  Thus  we  see  (says  Barruel,)  Condorcet  tracing  back  the  germ  at 
least  of  all  the  principles  of  the  French  revolution,  to  these  secret  asso- 
ciations, which  he  represents  as  the  benefactors  of  nations." 

Had  not  masons  a  right  equally  with  other  citizens,  to  take  part  in 
the  glorious  cause  of  freeing  their  country  from  despotism?  Was  it  not 
their  duty,  and  would  they  not  been  infamous  not  to  have  done  so  ? 


BARRUEL    AND    ROBISON.  863 

The  American  masons  were  as  zealous,  I  believe,  in  the  cause  of  their 
country  in  our  revqlution  as  other  men,  and  have  never,  to  my  knowl- 
edge, as  a  distinct  class,  been  reproached  for  it. 

The  French  revolution,  however  objectionable  its  course  in  some 
stages  of  its  progress,  and  however  unfortunate  its  termination,  was 
holy  and  just.  Its  projectors  and  the  French  people  as  a  nation,  are 
no  more  responsible  for  the  atrocities  of  Robespierre,  than  are  the  soci- 
ety of  masons  for  the  murder  of  Morgan. 

But  how  were  the  enormities  complained  of,  produced  ?  By  the 
combination  of  the  despots  of  Europe  for  the  purpose  of  reducing  the 
French  nation  to  its  former  state  of  bondage.  Among  the  means 
employed,  a  civil  war  was  fomented  in  La  Vendee,  comprehending 
three  departments  of  the  republic,  and  money  was  furnished  to  the 
rebels  against  their  country,  by  England,  to  prosecute  this  nefarious 
warfare. 

Besides,  almost  all  the  nobility  and  clergy  of  France,  were  in  oppo- 
sition to  the  cause  of  liberty,  and  carrying  on  every  possible  intrigue 
to  reinstate  the  monarchy.  They  were  sensible  of  the  benefits  resul- 
ting to  them  from  the  services  of  an  enslaved  people,  and  they  wished 
to  bring  them  back  to  their  former  debased  state. 

Thus  was  the  French  nation  situated;  surrounded  by  external  foes, 
and  harrassed  by  those  within;  to  kill  or  be  killed  became  the  only 
alternative,  and  acts  were  committed,  under  the  sway  of  Robespierre, 
that  tarnished  the  glorious  cause  in  which  they  were  engaged. 

But,  alter  all,  it  is  a  pretty  well  ascertained  fact,  that  Robespierre 
was  in  the  interest  of  the  powers  combined  against  France,  which 
caused  him  to  disgrace  the  revolution  in  the  manner  he  did. 

If  any  country  ever  had  cause  to  revolutionize  its  government,  it 
was  France,  under  the  ancient  regime.  Where  America  had  one  just 
complaint  against  the  abuses  of  government,  France  had  a  hundred:  it 
would  requ  ire  a  volume  to  enumerate  them.  I  have  not  a  list  b€rfore 
me,  but  one  was  so  degrading  to  the  character  of  man,  that  it  made  a 
strong  impression  upon  my  mind  when  examining  the  catalogue.  It 
was  this  :  in  some  places,  in  certain  seasons  of  the  year,  the  peasants, 
by  the  law  called  the  Gabelle,  wete  obliged  in  turn,  to  beat  the  ponds 
and  brooks  all  night,  to  prevent  the  seigneur  or  lord  of  the  manor  and 
family's  being  disturbed  by  the  croaking  of  the  frogs. 

By  this  single  example  the  debased  state  of  the  people  of  France 
may  easily  be  imagined. 

The  horrors  of  the  Bastile,  the  famous  prison  at  Paris,  is  pretty 
well  understood.      A  Mr.  Caritat,  well  known  in  the  city   of  New 


364  ANTIMASONIC    WRITERS. 

York,  as  a  bookseller,  informed  me,  that  he  had  been  employed  as  a 
clerk  in  one  of  the  offices  of  government  in  Paris,  and  that  he  had  filled 
up  hundreds  o^  letters  de  cachet,  signed  in  blank  by  the  king.  These 
letters  were  orders  to  the  keeper  of  the  Bastile,  to  receive  under  his 
charge  the  persons  named  in  them  ;  and  which  might  be  obtained  for 
a  few  guineas,  by  any  influential  character.  Thus  were  persons 
thrown  into  this  dismal  place,  without  trial  and  without  any  charge  of 
crime.  One  man  released  from  it,  on  its  demolition,  had  suffered  con- 
finement for  forty  years,  and  was  entirely  ignorant  of  the  cause  of  his 
imprisonment. 

In  the  mean  time  the  king,  good  easy  soul,  was  enjoying  the  plea- 
sures of  the  table  and  the  chase,  unmindful  of  the  sufferings  of  his  fel- 
low men,  inflicted  through  his  instrumentality.  In  fact,  whatever  may 
be  said  of  Louis  XVI,  it  is  very  evident,  that  he  was  a  complete  gour- 
mand, and  very  little  endowed  with  the  active  virtues. 

Thomas  Paine,  in  his  "  Rights  of  Man,"  in  answer  to  Edmond 
Burke's  attack  on  the  French  revolution,  observes,  "  Through  the 
whole  of  Mr.  Burke's  book,  I  do  not  observe  that  the  Bastile  is  men- 
tioned more  than  once,  and  that  with  a  kind  of  implication  as  if  he  was 
sorry  it  is  pulled  down,  and  wished  it  was  built  up  again.  •  We  have 
rebuilt  Newgate,  says  he,  and  tenanted  the  mansion ;  and  we  have 
prisons  almost  as  strong  as  the  Bastile  for  those  who  dare  to  belie  the 
Queen  of  France.^ 

"  Not  one  glance  of  compassion,  not  one  commiserating  reflection, 
that  I  can  find  throughout  his  book,  has  he  bestowed  on  those  that 
lingered  out  the  most  wretched  of  lives,  a  life  without  hope,  in  the 
most  miserable  of  prisons.  It  is  painful  to  behold  a  man  employing 
his  talents  to  corrupt  himself  Nature  has  been  kinder  to  Mr.  Burke 
than  he  has  been  to  her.  He  is  not  affected  by  the  reality  of  distress 
touching  his  heart,  but  by  the  showy  resemblance  of  it  striking  his 
imagination.  He  pities  the  plumage,  but  forgets  the  dying  bird. 
Accustomed  to  kiss  the  aristocratical  hand  that  hath  purloined  him 
from  himself,  he  degenerates  into  a  composition  of  art,  and  the  genuine 
soul  of  nature  forsakes  him.  His  hero  or  his  heroine  must  be  a  tra- 
gidy-victem,  expiring  in  show,  and  not  the  real  prisoner  of  misery, 
sliding  into  death  in  the  silence  of  a  dungeon." 

Mr.  Burke  for  his  apostacy  from  the  whig  cause,  and  writing  his 
philippic  against  the  French  revolution,  received  from  the  British  king 
of  the  people's  money,  a  pension  of  fifteen  hundred  pounds  sterling^: 
Six  thousand,  six  hundred  and  sixty  dollars. 

By  this  work,  says  Joel  Barlow,  in  a  note  to  his  "  Conspiracy  o^ 


BARRUEt    AND    ROBISON.  365 

Kings,"  "  He  (Burke)  conjured  up  a  war,  in  which  at  least  two  mil- 
lions of  his  fellow  creatures  must  be  sacrificed  to  his  unaccountable 
passion.  Such  is  the  condition  of  human  nature,  that  the  greatest 
crimes  have  usually  gone  unpunished.  It  appears  to  me  that  history 
does  not  furnish  a  greater  one  than  this  of  Mr.  Burke  ;  and  yet  all  the 
consolation  that  we  can  draw  from  the  detection,  is  to  leave  the  man  to 
his  own  reflections,  and  expose  his  conduct  to  the  execration  of  pos- 
terity." 

Many  misstatements  have  been  published,  charging  the  legislatures 
of  France  in  the  time  of  the  revolution,  with  an  open  avowal  of  infi- 
delity to  the  Christian  religion,  and  with  persecuting  the  clergy,  with 
a  view  of  prejudicing  mankind  against  their  cause.  All  this  has  been 
grounded  upon  a  single  expression  of  Anacharsis  Cloots,  one  of  the 
assembly,  which  received,  however,  no  countenance  from  the  other 
members.  Robespierre,  who,  above  all  others,  deserves  the  severest 
censure,  professed  the  greatest  regard  for  religion,  and  introduced  to 
the  assembly  a  long  report,  expressly  upon  that  subject,  which  was 
received  with  approbation. 

The  following  extract  from  the  History  of  the  Revolution,  by  M. 
Rabaut  de  St.  Elienne,  will  correct  the  errors  that  have  been  circula. 
ted  respecting  the  treatment  of  the  priests. — Rabaut  was  a  protestant 
clergyman,  a  member  of  the  National  Assembly,  and  a  man  of  first 
rate  character  and  talents. — He  says, 

"  The  oath  required  of  the  clergy  was  one  of  the  pretexts  used  for 
endeavoring  to  create  one  of  those  quarrels  which  are  termed  schisms, 
and  in  which  men  separate  into  parties,  and  then  fight,  for  the  sake  of 
abstract  questions  which  they  do  not  understand.  The  National 
Assembly  had  given  the  title  of  Civil  Constitution  of  the  Clergy,  to 
what  was  nothing  but  its  organization.  It  should  seem  that  the  Assem- 
bly would  have  done  better,  in  not  engaging  in  this  affair,  since  each 
profession  and  each  professor  can  arrange  themselves  agreeably  to 
their  own  mode  of  proceeding,  saving  the  superintending  power  of  the 
government.  It  ran  the  hazard  of  reviving,  under  one  form,  a  body 
which  it  had  destroyed  under  another.  But  priests  maintain  such  a 
fast  hold  of  all  temporal  affairs,  and  attach  themselves  so  closely  to  the 
interests  of  the  government,  that  it  is  difficult  to  separate  them  from 
these  affairs  and  these  interests ;  and,  take  the  matter  up  in  what  shape 
you  will,  the  the  priesthood  still  meets  you  at  every  corner :  this  cre- 
ates a  degree  of  embarrassment  in  every  country,  where  the  sove- 
reign, be  it  what  it  may,  hath  a  serious  inclination  to  be  master. 


'S6G  ANTIMASONIC    WRITERS. 

"  The  National  Assembly,  then,  having  organized  the  clefgy, 
according  to  the  principles  of  the  French  constitution,  required  of  the 
priests  the  oath,  which  had  been  taken  by  every  citizen,  to  support  the 
constitution  ;  but  it  required,  at  the  same  time,  that  they  should  swear 
to  maintain  the  civil  constitution  of  the  clergy.  Of  all  the  military 
men  who  have  taken,  and  broken,  the  civic  oath,  not  one  ever  thought 
of  saying,  that  Heaven  was  injured  by  the  military  organization,  their 
pretext  hath  been,  that  they  had  already  taken  an  oath  to  the  king, 
whieh  rendered  the  latter  null  and  of  no  effect.  But  priests  are  in  the 
habit  of  identifying  themselves  with  God,  and  whoever  offends  them, 
offends  heaven.  Accordingly,  certain  subtle  minds  soon  discovered 
the  means  of  creating  a  schism,  in  asserting,  that  this  constitution  wa« 
a  spiritual  affair,  nay  more,  that  it  was  another  religion  ;  that  to  require 
such  an  oath  was  a  restraint  of  the  freedom  of  conscience,  that  it  was 
putting  priests  to  the  torture,  and  exposing  them  to  suffer  martyrdom. 
They  even  desired  death,  and  that  they  might  be  led  to  execution,  well 
assured  that  the  national  convention  would  never  do  any  such  thing. 

•*  There  was  found  in  the  Kingdom  a  considerable  number  of  well- ' 
meaning  persons,  who  imagined,  that  their  consciences  had  received  a 
material  injury  by  this  new  organization  of  the  clergy  :  for  what  men 
most  believe,  is  very  often,  what  they  least  understand.  Meanwhile 
the  nonjuring  priests  were  obliged  to  quit  their  parishes,  and  pensions 
were  allotted  to  them :  but  they  endeavored  to  preserve  their  influence 
over  their  parishioners,  and  to  interest  them  in  their  favor,  by  all  those 
means  which  continually  lie  within  reach  of  those,  to  whom  men  have 
committed  the  government  of  their  reason.  This  division  inspired  the 
enemies  of  the  constitution  with  the  hope,  that  the  French  might  be 
seduced  into  a  civil  war  for  the  sake  of  the  priesthood,  since  they 
would  not  go  to  war  for  the  sake  of  the  nobility,  which,  in  truth,  had 
no  abstract  ideas  to  present  to  the  subtle  minds  of  the  discontented. 
The  courtiers  and  the  friends  of  privileges,  on  a  sudden  became  devout ; 
they  were  devout  even  at  court ;  nay,  they  were  devout  even  at  Worms 
and  at  Coblentz,  But  the  citizens  of  Paris,  even  such  as  were  least 
enlightened,  did  not  become  the  dupes  of  this  mummery ;  now  without 
Paris,  there  can  be  no  civil  war." — (Lond.  ed.  p.  20O.) 

Mr.  Robison  maintains  the  same  tyrannical  doctrines  as  Barruel  J 
in  support  of  which  he  quotes  the  arguments  of  one  of  the  kings  of 
France  in  vindication  of  his  claims  to  power. 

"  Hear,  says  he,  what  opinion  was  entertained  of  the  sages  of 
France  by  their  Prince,  the  father   of  Louis  XVI.  the  unfortunate 


BAHRUEt    AND    ROBlSOX.  367 

martyr  of  monarchy.  *  By  the  principles  of  our  new  philosophers  the 
throne  no  longer  wears  the  splendor  of  divhiity.  They  maintain  that 
it  arose  from  violence,  and  that  by  the  same  justice  that  force  erected 
it,  force  may  again  shake  it,  and  overturn  it.  The  people  can  never 
give  up  their  power.  They  only  let  it  out  for  their  own  advantage, 
and  always  retain  the  right  to  rescind  the  contract,  and  resume  it 
whenever  their  personal  advantage,  their  only  rule  of  conduct,  requires 
it.  Our  philosophers  teach  in  public  what  our  passions  suggest  only 
in  secret.'" — Then  follows  the  reasoning  of  Louis,  intended  to  show 
this  doctrine  to  be  heretical  and  absurd ;  and  Robison  adds,  •'  This 
opinion  of  a  prince  is  unpolished  indeed,  and  homely,  but  it  is  justJ^ 
(p.  343.) 

The  author  attempts,  without  a  shadow  of  proof,  to  connect  free- 
masonry with  the  Order  of  Illuminati ;  and  then,  by  calumniating  the 
latter,  to  disparage  the  former.  But  in  this  he  has  miserably  failed  : 
for,  after  all  that  has  been  said  against  the  society  of  Illuminati,  it 
appears  to  have  been  instituted  for  the  sole  purpose  of  lessening  the 
evils  which  result  from  the  want  of  information,  by  enlightening  the 
public  mind,  and  diffusing  useful  knowledge  among  all  classes  of  the 
community. 

To  suppose,  as  the  author  pretends,  that  this  society,  composed  of 
men  of  the  first  respectability  and  standing,  wished  to  destroy  all  order 
and  government,  is  too  preposterous  for  a  moments  consideration. 

The  order  is  said  to  have  been  founded  in  Germany  about  the 
year  1777;  and  Dr.  Adam  Weishaupt,  professor  of  Canon  Law  in  the 
university  of  Ingolstadt,  was  the  projector. 

The  author  gives  Dr.  Weishaupt's  prospectus  of  his  views,  by 
which  the  reader  may  form  his  own  opinion  of  the  merits  of  his 
scheme. 

"  The  order  of  Illuminati  appears  as  an  accessory  to  freemasonry. 
It  is  in  the  lodges  of  freemasons  that  the  Minervals  are  found,  and  there 
they  are  prepared  for  Illumination.  They  must  have  previously 
obtained  the  three  English  degrees.  The  founder  says  more.  That 
his  doctrines  are  the  only  true  freemasonry.  He  was  the  chief  promo- 
ter of  the  Eclectic  System.  This  he  urged  as  the  best  method  for 
getting  information  of  all  the  explanations  which  have  been  given  of 
the  masonic  mysteries.  He  was  also  a  Strict  Observanz,  and  an  adept 
Rosycrucian.  The  result  of  all  his  knowledge  is  worthy  of  particular 
remark,  and  shall  therefore  be  given  at  large. 


568  antimasonk;  wrtteus, 

'  I  declare,  says  he,  and  I  challenge  all  mankind  to  contradict  my 
declaration,  that  no  man  can  give  any  account  of  the  order  of  freema- 
sonry, of  its  origin,  of  its  history,  of  its  object,  nor  any  explanation  of 
its  mysteries  and  symbols,  which  does  not  leave  the  mind  in  total 
uncertainty  on  all  these  points.  Every  man  is  entitled,  therefore,  to 
give  an  explanation  of  the  symbols,  and  any  system  of  the  doctrines, 
that  he  can  render  palatable.  Hence  have  sprung  up  that  variety  of 
systems,  which,  for  twenty  years  have  divided  the  order.  The  simple 
tale  of  the  English,  and  the  fifty  degrees  of  the  French,  and  the  knights 
of  Baron  Hunde,  are  equally  authentic,  and  have  equally  had  the  sup- 
port of  intelligent  and  zealous  brethren.  These  systems  are  in  fact 
but  one.  They  have  all  sprung  from  the  blue  lodge  of  three  degrees  ; 
take  these  for  their  standard,  and  found  on  these  all  the  improvements 
by  which  each  system  is  afterwards  suited  to  the  particular  object 
which  it  keeps  in  view.  There  is  no  man,  nor  system,  in  the  world, 
which  can  show  by  undoubted  succession  that  it  should  stand  at  the 
head  of  the  order.  Our  ignorance  in  this  particular  frets  me.  Do  but 
consider  our  short  history  of  one  hundred  and  twenty  years. — Who 
will  show  me  the  mother  lodge?  Those  of  London  we  have  disco- 
vered to  be  self-erected  in  1716.  [1717.]  Ask  for  their  archives.  They 
tell  you  they  were  burnt.  They  have  nothing  but  the  wretched 
sophistications  of  the  Englishman  Anderson,  and  the  Frenchman 
Desaguiliers.  Where  is  the  lodge  of  York,  which  pretends  to  the 
priority,  with  their  king  Bouden,  and  the  archives  that  he  brought 
from  the  East  ?  These  too  are  all  burnt.  What  is  the  chapter  of  Old 
Aberdeen,  and  its  holy  clericate?  Did  we  not  find  it  unknown,  and 
the  mason  lodges  there  the  most  ignorant  of  all  the  ignorant,  gaping 
for  instruction  from  our  deputies  ?  Did  we  not  find  the  same  thing  at 
London  ?  And  have  not  their  missionaries  been  among  us,  prying 
into  our  mysteries,  and  eager  to  learn  from  us  what  is  true  freemasonry  1 
It  is  in  vain,  therefore,  to  appeal  to  judges ;  they  are  no  where  to  be 
found  ;  all  claim  for  themselves  the  sceptre  of  the  order  ;  all  indeed  are 
on  an  equal  footing.  They  obtained  followers,  not  from  their  authen- 
ticity, but  from  their  conduciveness  to  the  end  which  they  proposed^ 
and  from  the  importance  of  that  end.  It  is  by  this  scale  that  we  must 
measure  the  mad  and  wicked  explanations  of  the  Rosycrucians,  the 
Exorcists,  and  Cabalists.  These  are  rejected  by  all  good  masons, 
because  incompatible  with  social  happiness.  Only  such  systems  as 
promote  this  are   retained.     But  alas,  they  are  all  sadly  deficient, 


BARRUEL    AND    ROBISON.  S69 

because  they  leave  us  under  the  dominion  of  political  and  religious 
pri»judices;  and  they  are  as  inefficient  as  the  sleepy  dose  of  an  ordi- 
nary sermon.* 

'  But  I  have  contrived  an  explanation  which  has  every  advantage; 
is  inviting  to  Christians  of  every  communion  ;  gradually  frees  them 
from  all  religious  prejudices;  cultivates  the  social  virtues;  and  ani- 
mates them  by  a  great,  a  feasible,  and  speedy  prospect  of  universal  hap- 
piness, in  a  state  of  liberty  and  moral  equality,  freed  from  the  obstacles 
which  subordination,  rank,  and  riches,  continually  throw  in  our  way. 
My  explanation  is  accurate,  and  com;  lete,  my  means  are  effectual,  and 
irresistible.  Our  secret  association  works  in  a  way  that  nothing  can 
withstand,  and  man  shall  soon  be  free  and  happy. 

'  This  is  the  great  object  held  out  by  this  association ;  and  the 
means  of  attaining  it  is  Illumination,  enlightening  the  understanding 
by  the  sun  of  reason,  which  will  dispel  the  clouds  of  superstition  and 
of  prejudice.  The  proficients  in  this  order  are  therefore  justly  named 
the  liluminatud.  And  of  all  Illumination  which  human  reason  can 
give,  none  is  comparable  to  the- discovery  of  what  we  are,  our  nnture, 
our  obligations,  what  happiness  Ave  are  capable  of,  and  what  are  the 
means  of  attaining  it.  In  comparison  with  this,  the  most  brilliant  sci- 
ences are  but  amusements  for  the  idle  and  luxurious.  To  fit  man  by 
Illumination  for  active  virtue,  to  engage  him  to  it  by  the  strongest 
motives,  to  render  the  attainment  of  it  easy  and  certain,  by  finding 
employment  for  every  talent,  and  by  placing  every  talent  in  its  proper 
sphere  of  action,  so  that  all,  without  feeling  any  extraordinary  effort, 
and  in  conjunction  with  and  completion  of  ordinary  business,  shall  urge 
forward,  with  united  powers,  the  general  task.  This  indeed  will  be 
an  employment  suited  to  noble  natures,  grand  in  its  views,  and  delight- 
ful in  its  exercise. 

'And  what  is  this  general  object?  The  happiness  of  thi 
HUMAN  RACE,  ^s  it  uot  distressing  to  a  generous  mind,  after  contem- 
plating what  human  nature  is  capable  of,  to  see  how  little  we  enjoy  ^ 
When  we  look  at  this  goodly  world,  and  see  that  every  man  may  be 
happy,  but  that  the  happiness  of  one  depends  on  the  conduct  of  another ; 

♦Dr.  Weishaiipl  has  made  a  declaration  rather  too  bold  in,  the  opening  of  his  views, 
in  respect  to  freemasonry.  He  miwht  possibly  be  justifiable  in  saying  that  the  origin  of 
{he  order  had  not  been  discovered ;  but  that  it  can  not  he,  remains  to  be  proved.  He, 
however,  had  not,  perhaps,  perused  the  German  work,  noticed  in  the  introduction  of 
this  volume  ;  the  author  of  which,  I  will  venture  to  say,  had  found  the  right  cluo 
to!  lead  to  a  development  of  the  secret  Whether  it  conducted  him  to  a  result  satisfac- 
tory to  his  readers,  or  whether  his  book  fell  into  the  hands  of  tbosa  "  who  can  under- 
ttand,'^  1  know  not. 

47 


370  ANTIMASONIC    WRITERS. 

when  we  see  the  wicked  so  powerful,  and  the  good  so  weak ;  and  thai 
it  is  vain  to  strive,  singly  and  alone,  against  the  general  current  oi  vice 
and  oppression  ;  the  wish  naturally  arises  in  the  mind,  that  it  were 
possible  to  form  a-  durable  combination  of  the  most  worthy  persons, 
who  should  work  together  in  removing  the  obstacles  to  human  happi- 
ness, become  terrible  to  the  wicked,  and  give  their  aid  to  all  the  good 
without  distinction,  and  should  by  the  most  powerful  means,  first  fetten 
and  by  fettering,  lessen  vice ;  means  w^hich  at  the  same  time  should 
promote  virtue,  by  rendering  the  inclination  to  rectitude,  hitherto  too 
feeble,  more  powerful  and  engaging.  Would  not  such  an  association 
be  a  blessing  to  the  world  ?" 

'  But  -where  are  the  proper  persons,  the  good,,  the  generous,  and 
the  accomplished,  to  be  found  ?  and  how,  and  by  what  strong  motives, 
are  they  to  be  induced  to  engage  in  a  task  so  vast,  so  incessant,  so  dif- 
ficult, and  so  laborious  ?  This  association  must  be  gradual.  There 
are  some  such  persons  to  be  found  in  every  society.  Such  noble 
minds  will  be  engaged  by  the  heart-warming  object.  The  first  task  of 
the  association  must  therefore  be  to  form  the  young  members.  As 
these  multiply  and  advance,  they  become  the  apostles  of  beneficence, 
and  the  work  is  now  on  foot,  and  advances  with  a  speed  increasing 
every  day.  The  slightest  observation  shows  that  nothing  will  so  much 
contribute  to  increase  the  zeal  of  the  members  as  secret  union.  We 
see  with  what  keenness  and  zeal  the  frivolous  business  of  freemasonry 
is  conducted,  by  persons  knit  together  by  the  secrecy  of  their  union^ 
It  is  needless  to  inquire  into  the  causes  of  this  zeal  which  secrecy  pro- 
duces. It  is  an  universal  fact,  confirmed  by  the  history  of  every  age. 
Let  this  circumstance  of  our  constitution  therefore  be  directed  to  this 
noble  purpose,  and  then  all  the  objections  urged  against  it  by  jealous 
tyranny  and  affrighted  superstition  will  vanish.  The  order  will  thus 
work  silently,  and  securely ;  and  though  the  generous  benefactors  of 
the  human  race  are  thus  deprived  of  the  applause  of  the  world,  they, 
have  the  noble  pleasure  of  seeing  their  work  prosper  in  their  hands.' 

"  The  candidate,  before  his  admission,  is  required  to  peruse  and  sign 
the  following  oath :" 

•  I,  N.  N  ,  hereby  bind  myself,  by  my  honor  and  good  name,  for, 
swearing  all  mental  reservation,  never  to  reveal,  by  hint,  word,  writing, 
or  in  any  manner  whatever,  even  to  my  most  trusted  friend,  any  thing 
that  shall  now  be  said  or  done  to  me  respecting  my  wished-for  recep- 
tioo,  and  this  whether  my  reception  shall  follow  or  not ;  I  being  previ- 
ously assured  that  it  shall  contain  nothings  contrary  to  religion,  the 


BARRUEL    AND    ROBISON.  171 

siaU,  nor  good  manners.  I  promise,  that  I  shall  malce  no  intelligible 
extract  from  any  papers  which  shall  be  shewn  me  now  or  during  my 
noviciate.  All  this  I  swear,  as  I  am,  and  as  I  hope  to  continue,  a  man 
of  honor.' 

"  The  urbanity  of  this  protestation  must  agreeably  impress  the 
mind  of  a  person  who  recollects  the  dreadful  imprecations  which  he 
cnade  at  his  reception  into  the  different  ranks  of  freemasonry." 

The  difference  in  the  style  of  the  oath,  administered  in  the  two 
orders,  must  be  attributed  to  the  customs  of  the  times  in  which  they 
were  formed. 

Mr.  Robison,  after  bestowing  the  most  vulgar  abuse  upon  the 
learned  and  amiable  Dr.  Priestly,  adds,  '*  But  I  do  not  suppose  that  he 
has  yet  attained  his  acme  of  illuminatism.  His  genius  has  been 
cramped  by  British  prejudices.  These  need  not  sway  his  mind  any 
longer.  He  is  now  in  that  '  o-ara  temporis  {et  loci)  felicitate,  uhi  sen- 
tire  qua  velis,  et  qua  sentias  dicere  licitJ  " — That  is,  he  now  enjoys 
the  rare  felicity  of  time  and  place  (America)  where  it  is  lawful  to  think 
what  one  pleases,  and  to  speak  what  one  thinks. 

The  liberty  of  speech  which  we  claim  in  this  country,  must  be  very 
grating  to  the  feelings  of  a  man  possessing  the  principles  of  Robison. 
He  would  have  no  person,  except  the  mean  eulogists  of  power,  like 
himself,  permitted  to  utter  his  sentiments. 

"  Does  Dr.  Priestly  think  (says  he)  that  the  British  will  part  mOre 
easily  than  their  neighbors  in  France  with  their  property  and  honors, 
secured  by  ages  of  peaceable  possession,  protected  by  law^  aiid  acqui- 
esced  in  by  all  who  wish  and  hope  that  their  own  descendants  may  reap 
the  fruits  oiiheix  honest  industry.''^ — (p.  367.) 

The  following -deed  of  the  ferocious  robber,  William  of  Normandy» 
will  serve  as  a  general  example  of  the  manner  in  which  the  British 
nobility  obtained  their  property.  It  is  taken  from  the  National  Portrait 
Gallery,  London,  1829: 

Francis  Rawdon  Hastings,  Marquis  of  Hastings,  K.  B.  The  fam- 
ily of  Rawdon  is  of  great  antiquity,  and  of  Norman  extraction.  But 
the  English  pedigree  is  deduced  from  Paulin,  or  Paulinus  Roydon,  who 
commanded  a  body  of  archers,  in  the  army  of  William,  at  the  battle  of 
Hastings.  For  this  service  he  received  from  the  Conqueror  a  grant 
of  lands  in  the  West  Ridings  of  Yorkshire,  near  Jbeeds.  The  tenure 
was  by  grand  sergeantry ;  and  the  condition,  that  of  presenting  to  the 
king  and  his  successors  a  cross-bow  and  arrow,  whenever  any  of  them 
should  come  to  hunt  there.     Of  the  title  deed  conveying  these  mano- 


zm 


ANTIMASONIC    WRITER!  I 


rial  rights,  Weever,  in  his  "  Funeral  Momuments,"  gives  the  following 
as  a  faithful  transcript : 

I,  William  Kyns:,  the  thurd  yere  of  my  reign, 

Give  to  thee  Paulyn  Roydon,  Hope  and  Hopetowne, 

With  all  the  bounds  both  up  and  downe; 

From  heaven  to  yerthe,  from  yerthe  to  hel, 

For  thee  and  thyne  there  to  dwel, 

As  truly  as  this  kmg-right  is  myn : 

For  a  crosse-bow  and  an  arrow, 

When  I  sal  come  to  hunt  on  yarrow. 

And  in  token  that  this  thing  is  sooth, 

I  bit  the  whyt  wax  with  my  tooth, 

Before  Meg,  Maud,  and  Margery, 

And  my  third  sonne  Henry. 


that  of  fess  between  three  pheons,  or 
— Et  nos  quoque  tela  sparsimus:     We 


The  armorial  bearing  is 
arrow-heads,  with  this  motto, 
too  have  scattered  our  arrows. 

The  following  statement  exhibits  the  amount  drawn  annually  from 
the  hard  earnings  of  the  people,  to  support  the  profligate  luxury  of  the 
nobility  and  clergy  of  Great  Britain. 

Nice  British  Pickings, — Expressed  in  British  Pounds. 

399  Peers  sitting  in  Parliament,  and  their  families,  receive  from  the 
taxes  £2,754,336 

309  Peers  not  sitting  in  Parliament, 

and  their  families,  receive  978.000 


£3,732.336 

The  Marquis  of  Bute  and  family 

receive       65,811 

Lord  Eldon 

50,400 

The  Duke  of  Beaufort^ 

48,600 

The  Earl  of  Lauderdale 

33.600 

Lord  Baresford 

29,000 

The  Duke  of  Newcastle- 

19,900 

Archbishop  of  Canterbury 

41,100  and  176  livings 

Bishop  of  Durham 

61,700  livings  unknown 

Bishop  of  London 

10.200  with  95  livings 

Bishop  of  Litchfield 

12,590  with  48  livings 

Bishop  of  St.  Asaph 

7,000  with  90  livings 

Bishop  of  Bath  and  Wells 

7,S30  with  27  livings 

Bishop  of  Chester 

4.700  with  30  livings 

Bishop  of  Chichester 

6,770  with  36  livinj^s 

Bishop  of  Ely 

*1,340  with  108  liringi 

BARRUEL    AND    ROBISON.  373 


8,280  with  36  livings 
8,370  with  40  livings 
3,500  with   1 1  livings 
5,400  with  21  livings 
14,420  with  40  livings 
7,500  and  great  patron- 

_      .  ._                      orra 

467,511 
3,732,336 

"5  — 

Bishop  of  Lincoln 
Bishop  of  Norwich 
Bishop  of  Oxford 
Bishop  of  Rochester 
Bishop  of  Salisbury- 
Bishop  of  Cloyne 


"Which  added  to  the  aforesaid  sum  of 

Amounts  to  the  sum  of  £4,199,847 

Which  will  maintain  83,997  families,  at  £50  a  year  and  upwards 
each  family. 

Here  we  see  the  honest  industry  by  which  the  privileged  orders 
acquire  their  property.  By  livings  are  to  be  understood  parishes,  in 
which  curates  are  located  by  the  bishops,  and  from  which  the  latter 
receive  every  tenth  animal,  sheaf  of  wheat,  etc.,  which  are  raised 
therein  ;  whilst  the  famished  curates,  who  actually  do  all  the  service, 
in  reading  prayers,  sermons,  etc.,  receive  but  sixty  or  seventy  pounds  a 
year.     This  is  English  Christianity,  but  it  is  not  the  religion  of  Christ. 

I  will  add  to  these  notable  instances  of  acquring  wealth,  in  Eng- 
land, by  honest  industry,  a  late  communication  from  a  writer  in  Liver- 
pool to  an  editor  of  a  paper  in  New- York.  After  giving  a  list  of  the 
present  Cabinet  and  other  officers  of  state,  he  says : — "  American 
notions  of  economy  will  be  shocked,  when  I  add  that  for  the  privilege 
of  being  wiw-governed  by  these  gentlemen,  the  tax-ridden,  church-rate, 
and  tythe-stricken  people  of  England,  Scotland,  and  Ireland  must  pay 
the  enormous  yearly  sum  of  six  hundred  thousa7id  dollars !  Yes,  the 
mere  salaries  to  the  members  of  the  government — I  say  nothing  of  the 
fees,  perquisites,  peculation  and  patronage — amount  to  this  sum.  Nor 
is  this  all:  supposing  the  members  of  the  government  remain  in  office 
only  a  week — a  day — an  hour — nearly  every  one  of  them  is  entitled  to 
a  retiring  pension  varying  from  one-half  to  one-third  of  his  salary. 
Thus  Lord  Brougham,  after  a  Chancellorship  of  four  years,  receives 
a  pension  of  twenty-five  thousand  dollars  a  year /or  life  ! — The  Duke 
of  Wellington,  who  has  obtained  grants,  amounting  to  upwards  of  five 
millions  of  dollars,  allows  his  mother  to  draw  a  small  pension  from  the 
country. 

'*  These  things  are  worth  knowing,  in  case  any  attempt  should  be 
made — as  made  it  one  day  will  be — to  trammel  the  free  institutions  of 
America  with  the  trappings  of  royalty.     If  you  are  wise,  remain  as 


374  ANTIMASONIC    WRITERS! 

you  are — blessed  with  a  cheap  government,  and  a  corrective  control 
over  it." 

For  opposing  these  outrageous  impositions,  is  Dr.  Priestly  abused* 
by  this  defender  of  the  oppressions  and  degradation  to  which  the  people 
of  European  monarchies  are  subjected. 

"  The  Assembly,  says  Robison,  had  given  the  illumination  war- 
whoop — 'Peace  with  cottages,  but  war  with  palaces.^  A  pouvoir  revolu- 
tio?iaire  is  mentioned,  which  supercedes  all  narrow  thoughts,  all  ties 
of  morality.  Lequinio  publishes  the  most  detestable  bovk  that  ever 
issued  from  a  printing  press,  Les  Pejuges  vaincus,  containing  all  the 
principles,  and  expressed  in  the  very  words  of  Illuminatism.^^ — (p.  3 17.) 

Any  pretence  of  regard  for  the  ties  of  morality,  by  Mr.  Robison, 
after  having  vindicated  the  most  tyrannical  and  pernicious  doctrines,  is 
adding  insult  to  injury. 

There  was  never  a  more  moral  and  humane  sentiment  proclaimed 
by  any  government  in  the  world,  than  that  quoted  above.  What  ani- 
mosity existed  between  the  people  of  France  and  those  of  other  coun- 
tries ?  None  at  all.  The  crowned  heads  supported  by  the  privileged 
orders  of  Europe,  had  combined  against  France,  with  a  view  of 
destroying  her  free  institutions,  and  thereby  secure  their  own  ill-gotten 
power  and  emoluments.     They  alone  were  her  enemies. 

Lequinio  and  Robison  were  antipodes  to  each  other  in  principle. 
While  the  one  wished  to  destroy  prejudices,  the  other  endeavored  to 
cultivate  and  support  tliem. 

Lequinio  was  a  member  of  the  National  Convention  of  France,  and 
published  the  book  in  question,  Prejudices  Vanquished  or  Destroyed, 
in  1794.  It  has  not,  to  my  knowledge,  been  translated  into  English, 
nor  have  I  a  copy  of  the  original  before  me.  It  was,  however,  favora- 
bly noticed  by  a  British  Review,  at  the  time  of  its  publication  ;  fron^ 
which  the  following  sentiments  are  extracted.  These  will  show  the 
tenor  of  the  work,  and  enable  the  reader  to  determine  whicli  book,  that 
of  Robison  or  Lequinio,  is  entitled  to  the  epithet  detestable. 

Of  Prejudices.  "  Prejudices  arise  out  of  ignorance  and  the  want  of 
reflection  ;  these  are  the  basis  on  which  the  system  of  despotism  is 
erected,  and  it  is  the  master  piece  of  art  in  a  tyrant,  to  perpetuate  the 
stupidity  of  a  nation,  in  order  to  perpetuate  its  slavery  and  his  own 
dominion.  If  the  multitude  knew  how  to  think,  would  they  be  dupes 
to  phantoms,  ghosts,  hobgoblins,  spirits,  etc.,  as  they  have  been  at  all 
times,  and  in  all  nations  ?  What  is  nobility,  for  example,  to  a  man  who 
Ihinks  ?     What  are  all  those  abstract  beings,  children  of  an  exalted 


BARRUEL   ANP    ROBISON.  975 

imagination ^  which  have  no  existence  but  in  vulgar  credulity,  and  who 
cease  to  have  being  as  soon  as  we  cease  to  believe  in  them# 

"  The  greatest,  the  most  absurd,  and  the  most  foolish  of  all  preju- 
dices, is  that  very  prejudice  which  induces  men  to  believe  that  they  are 
necessary  for  their  happiness,  and  for  the  very  existence  of  society. 

Of  Kings.  "  Kings  have  ever  been  tyrants,  more  or  less  despotic, 
more  or  less  cruel,  more  or  less  unjust,  but  equally  smitten  with  a  love 
of  power,  intoxicated  by  the  spirit  of  domination,  forgetful  that  they 
were  men,  anxious  to  place  themselves  on  a  level  with  gods,  and  averse 
to  recollect  that  all  their  power  and  authority  was  derived  from  the 
very  nations  whom  they  oppressed. 

"  It  may  easily  be  perceived,  that  by  the  word  tyrant,  I  do  not  mean 
solely  those  monsters  of  ihe  human  race,  such  as  Nero,  Caligula, 
Charles  IX.,  etc.,  my  definition  extends  to  almost  all  kings,  past  and 
present ;  I  do  not  even  except  that  king  of  France  so  often  vaunted  as 
the  'good  Henry;'  (Henry  IV.)  although  less  cruel  than  most  of  his 
predecessors,  he  was  assuredly  no  less  despotic,  and  thought  no  less 
than  ihey,  that  all  France  was  destined  for  his  pleasure  and  his  glory; 
if  an  innovator  during  his  reign  had  dared  to  have  recalled  the  memory 
of  their  unalienable  rights  to  the  minds  of  the  people,  he  would  have 
been  crushed  under  the  weight  of  the  royal  authority.  Let  any  one 
recollect  the  game  laws  enacted  by  this  monarch,  and  then  ask  himself 
if  he  were  really  a  good  king.  By  an  article  of  his  ordonance  on  this 
subject,  it  was  decreed,  that  every  peasant,  found  with  a  gun  in  his 
hand,  near  a  thicket,  should  be  stripped  naked,  and  beaten  with  rods 
around  it.  It  was  thus  that  the  life  of  man  was  sacrificed  to  the  repose 
and  the  existence  of  hares  and  patridges,  destined  for  the  pleasures  of  a 
prince,  more  culpable,  perhaps,  in  respect  to  this  barbarous  law,  than 
any  of  his  predecessors,  because,  educated  among  the  indigent  and 
unfortunate,  he  ought  never  to  have  permitted  any  other  sentiments 
than  those  of  gentleness  and  humanity  to  penetrate  into  his  mind. 

•'  What  should  a  king  be,  if  he  were  as  he  ought  ?  A  man  covered 
with  a  paper  jacket,  on  which  is  written,  (De  far  la  nation  ^  la  loi.) 
*By  order  of  the  people  and  the  law  ;'  the  herald  of  the  nation,  the  pro- 
claimer  of  its  orders,  and  nothing  more.  It  is  ridiculous  enough  to  see 
loyalty  propagated  from  father  to  son,  like  the  king's  evil ;  it  is  still 
more  ridiculous  to  see  nations  so  deceived  by  being  accustomed  to 
slavery,  as  to  become  the  servile  idolators  of  that  power  by  which  they 
are  oppressed,  without  once  recollecting  that  it  is  their  own. 

Of  War.    "  Who  is  that  perverse,  and  ever  execrable  man,  who  first 


476  ANTIMASONIC    WRITERS: 

invented  the  murderous  art  of  war,  and  that  famous  science  of  tactics, 
which  consists  in  the  best  means  of  massacreing  whole  nations?  One 
creature  may  a^isassinate  another  in  a  moment  of  passion,  and,  how- 
ever barbarous  this  act  really  is,  and  however  much  it  may  be  repug- 
nant to  ihe  sensibility  of  a  good  man,  yet  he  can  conceive  it:  but  for 
two  men,  in  cool  blood,  to  think  of  assassinating  one  another,  or  thou- 
sands of  men  of  assassinating  other  thousands,  with  whom  they  are 
utterly  unconnected,  and  can  have  no  quarrel  or  even  difference  with  ; 
of  this  he  can  form  no  idea. 

"  O  shame  to  the  human  species  !  Nations,  blind,  and  asleep,  will 
you  never  awake ?  What?  shall  not  an  individual  whom  you  have 
placed  upon  the  throne,  and  whom  you  have  overwhelmed  with  your 
bounties,  be  satisfied  with  consuming  the  fruit  of  your  sweat  and  of 
your  toils,  in  the  bosom  of  indolence  and  voluptuousness,  and  with  lay- 
ing your  industry  and  your  fortune  under  contribution  !  And  shall  he 
Avish  to  dispose  of  your  very  existence?  must  you  be  the  instruments 
of  his  anger  and  his  vengeance,  of  his  ambition  and  his  mad  desires? 

"  He  wishes  to  conquer  a  province,  that  is  to  say,  to  usurp  the  domin- 
ion over  a  country,  and  pillage  the  inhabitants  ;  and  it  is  to  assist  this 
audacious  robbery,  of  which  you  will  enjoy  no  lucrative  portion,  that 
you  are  about  to  desolate  the  territories  of  a  people  who  never  offended 
you,  to  burn  their  villages,  and  to  spread  death  and  desolation  over 
their  fields  ;  while  in  this  attempt  you  expose  yourselves  to  excessive 
fatigues,  to  continual  privations,  and  even  to  death  itself;  or,  what  is 
still  worse,  to  wounds,  which  but  prolong  a  miserable  existence!" 

A  philanthropist,  a  man  who  wishes  to  promote  the  general  happi- 
ness of  his  fellow  men,  can  see  nothing  detestable  in  the  foregoing  senti- 
ments of  Lequinio.  But  professor  Robison,  as  well  as  the  Abbe  Bar- 
ruel,  had  his  own  private  interests  to  subserve.  He  possessed  a  lucra- 
tive office  in  the  university  of  Edinburgh  ;  which  he  could  neither  have 
obtained  nor  held,  had  he  advocated  the  cause  of  oppressed  humanity. 
Thus,  unhappily  for  mankind,  it  becomes  the  interest  of  the  learned  in 
monarchies,  to  support  the  power  of  tyrants. 

Barruel  held  a  place,  perhaps,  equally  lucrative  in  the  church;  and 
although  the  republic,  as  has  been  seen,  exercised  much  forbearance 
and  generosity  towards  the  nonjuring  priests,  he  did  not  possess  suffi- 
cient liberality  of  soul  to  make  the  least  sacrifice  for  the  benefit  of  the 
nation  unrler  its  embarrassed  situation.  He  would  neither  take  the 
oath  of  allegiance  to  the  republic,  nor  retire  upon  a  moderate  pen- 
sion. 


BARRUEL    AND    ROBISON.  877 

I  shall  now  make  some  remarks  on  the  calumnies  that  have  been 
industriously  spread  throughout  the  world  against  the  French  revolu- 
tion. And  although  none  can  reflect  without  detestation  on  the  tyranny 
and  cruelties  of  Robespierre,  and  some  others  who  obtained  power  in  the 
course  of  that  revolution,  I  shall  be  able  to  show  that  these  are  inferior 
in  atrocity  to  the  barbarities  which  took  place  in  the  American  revolu- 
tionary war. 

It  should  be  remembered,  also,  that  a  great  part  of  the  enormities 
which  occurred  in  France,  were  perpetrated  by  mobs.  The  people, 
driven  to  madness  by  the  intrigues  of  their  internal  foes,  gave  a  loose 
to  their  fury,  which  the  government  could  not  control. 

It  was  the  policy  of  kings  and  their  adherents,  to  stigmatize  the 
actors  in  the  French  revolution,  as  well  as  the  just  principles  upon 
which  it  was  founded.  Hence  the  cry  of  awful,  horrible,  detestable, 
revolution,  was  echoed  from  court  to  court  throughout  Europe ;  and, 
without  correct  information,  relying  upon  the  reports  of  the  corrupt 
presses  of  the  enemies  of  France,  the  same  cry,  I  am  sorry  to  say,  was 
reverberated  by  a  portion  of  the  press,  from  the  republican  shores  of 
America. 

The  same  course  was  pursued  to  scandalize  the  American  revolu- 
tion :  and  Europe  was  filled  with  the  lies  which  were  daily  issued  from 
"  Rivington's  li/ing  Gazette,"  printed  in  New- York  when  in  posses- 
sion of  the  British. 

Which  is  most  criminal,  it  may  be  asked,  to  rebel  against  one's 
country,  against  a  nation,  or  to  rebel  against  one  man,  a  king,  who 
arrogantly  claims  the  right  to  govern  a  country,  because  one  of  his 
ancestors,  in  a  former  age,  like  William,  the  Norman,  or  Canute,  the 
Dane,  compelled  the  people  of  that  country  by  force  of  arms,  to  submit 
to  his  authority? 

The  grand  and  ultimate  object  of  these  writers  was  to  bring  the 
French  revolution  into  disrepute  among  the  people  of  Europe,  in  order 
to  check  its  progress  in  other  countries.  And  to  effect  this,  no  means 
were  thought  too  vile  to  be  resorted  to.  The  principle  of  liberty  itself, 
as  though  mankind  were  unworthy  of  enjoying  it,  was  to  be  calumnia- 
ted and  denounced.  "  The  French  officers  and  soldiers,  says  Robison, 
who  returned  from  America,  imported  the  American  principles,  and  in 
every  company  found  fond  hearers  who  listened  with  delight  and 
regret  to  their  fascinating  tale  of  American  independence.  During  the 
war,  the  minister  was  obliged  to  allow  the  Parisians  to  amuse  them- 
selves with  theatrical  entertainments,  where  every  extravagance  of  tha 

48 


376  ANTIMASONIC    WRITERS  ! 

AmcTicans  was  applauded  as  a  noble  struggle  for  native  freedom.  All 
wished  for  a  taste  of  that  liberty  and  equality  which  they  were  allowed 
to  applaud  on  the  stage ;  but  as  soon  as  they  came  from  the  theatre  into 
the  street,  they  found  themselves  under  all  their  former  restraints. 
The  sweet  charm  had  found  its  way  into  their  hearts,  and  all  the  luxu- 
ries of  France  became  as  dull  as  common  life  does  to  a  fond  girl  when 
she  lays  down  her  novel. 

"In  this  irritable  state  of  mind  a  spark  was  sufficient  for  kindling  a 
flame.  To  import  this  dangerous  delicacy  of  American  growtht 
France  had  expended  many  millions,  and  was  drowned  in  debts." 

The  author  then  states  sundry  circumstances,  either  true  or  false, 
to  prove  that  the  Illuminati  and  Freemasons  took  a  part  in  the  revolu- 
tion of  France;  and  says,  "  After  all  these  particulars,  can  any  person 
have  a  doubt  that  the  order  of  Illuminati  formerly  interfered  in  the 
French  revolution,  and  contributed  greatly  to  its  progress?"  He  at  the 
same  timd  acknowledges  that,  "  There  is  no  denying  the  insolence  and 
:>ppression  of  the  crown,  and  the  nobles,  nor  the  misery  and  slavery  of 
the  people,  nor  that  there  were  sufficient  provocation  and  cause  for  a 
total  change  of  measures  and  of  principles." 

But  he  finds  fault  with  "  The  rapidity  with  which  one  opinion  was  ■ 
declared  in  every  corner,  and  that  opinion  as  quickly  changed ;"  as 
though  it  were  to  be  expected  that  a  whole  people,  who  had  just  burst 
the  bonds  which  had  held  them  enchained  for  centuries,  should  simul- 
taneously adopt  the  same  opinions  in  regard  to  the  manner  of  securing 
their  future  liberties. 

"  In  1789,  or  the  beginning  of  1790,  a  manifest  was  sent  from  the 
grand  National  Lodge  of  Freemasons  (so  it  is  entitled)  at  Paris,  signed 
by  the  duke  of  Orleans  as  grand  Master,  addressed  and  sent  to  the 
Lodges  in  all  the  respectable  cities  of  Europe,  exorting  them  to  unite 
for  the  support  of  the  French  Revolution,  to  gain  it  friends,  defenders* 
and  dependents  ;  and  according  to  their  opportunities,  and  the  practica- 
bility of  the  thing,  to  kindle  and  propagate  the  spirit  of  revolution 
through  all  lands.  This  is  a  most  important  article,  and  deserves  a 
very  serious  attention.  I  got  it  first  of  all  in  a  work  written  by  L.  A. 
Hoffinann,  Vienna,  1795. 

"  The  author  says,  ♦  That  every  thing  he  advances  in  these  memo- 
randums is  consistent  with  his  own  personal  knowledge,  and  that  he  is 
ready  to  give  convincing  proofs  of  them  to  any  respectable  person  who 
will  apply  to  him  personally.  He  has  already  given  such  convincing 
documenta  to  the  Emperor,  and  to  several  Princes,  that  many  of  the 


BARRUSL    AND    ROBISON.  879 

machinations  occasioned  by  this  manifesto  have  been  detected  aad 
stopped  ;  and  he  would  have  no  scruple  at  laying  the  whole  before  the 
public,  did  it  not  unavoidably  involve  several  worthy  persons  who  had 
suffered  themselves  to  be  misled,  and  heartily  repented  of  their  errors.' 
He  is  naturally  (being  a  Catholic)  very  severe  on  the  Protestants  (and 
indeed  he  has  much  reason)  and  by  this  has  drawn  on  himself  many 
bitter  retorts.  He  has  however  defended  himself  against  all  that  are 
of  any  consequence  to  his  good  name 'and  veracity,  in  a  manner  that 
fully  convinces  any  impartial  reader,  and  turns  to  the  confusion  of  the 
slanderers. 

"  Hoffmann  says,  that  '  he  saw  some  of  those  manifests;  that  they 
were  not  all  of  one  tenor,  some  being  addressed  to  friends,  of  whose 
support  they  were  already  assured.'  One  very  important  article  of 
their  contents  is  earnest  exhortations  to  establish  in  every  quarter 
secret  schools  of  political  education,  and  schools  for  the  public  educa- 
tion of  the  children  of  the  people,  under  the  direction  of  well-principled 
masters  ;  and  offers  of  pecuniary  assistance  for  this  purpose,  and  for  the 
encouragement  of  writers  in  favor  of  the  Revolution,  and  for  indemni- 
fying the  patriotic  booksellers  who  suffer  by  their  endeavors  to  sup- 
press publications  which  have  an  opposite  tendency." 

There  is  nothing  in  all  this  but  what  common  prudence  would 
dictate.  Shall  monarchs  and  their  satellites  be  applauded  for  exerting 
every  means  to  secure  their  power,  and  to  prevent  the  spread  of  liberal 
political  opinions ;  and  shall  the  friends  of  liberty  be  reproached  for 
4i!wng  the  same  means  for  the  support  and  security  of  free  govern- 
ments ? 

From  what  is  said  of  Hoffmann,  here  spoken  of,  it  is  probable  ho 
was  a  worthless  character,  on  whose  word  no  reliance  could  be  placed. 
His  complaints  against  the  Protestants  were,  doubtless,  that  they 
favored  the  revolution,  which,  in  the  eyes  of  Professor  Robison,  would 
be  sufficient  to  justify  every  abuse.  He  was,  no  doubt,  rewarded  for 
his  base  officiousness. 

"  I  conclude,  says  Mr.  Robison,  this  article  (on  the  French  revolu- 
tion) with  an  extract  or  two  from  the  proceedings  of  the  National 
Assembly  and  Convention,  which  make  it  evident  that  their  principles 
and  their  practice  are  precisely  those  of  the  Illuminati,  on  a  great 
scale. 

"On  the  19th  of  November,  1792,  it  was  decreed,  '  That  the  Con- 
vention, in  the  name  of  the  French  nation,  tenders  help  and  firaternity 
to  all  people  who  would  recover  their  liberty.' 


380  ANTIMASONIC    WRITERS: 

"  On  the  21st  of  November,  the  President  of  the  Convention  said  to 
the  pretended  deputies  of  the  Duchy  of  Savoy,  •  Representatives  of  an 
independent  people,  important  to  mankind  was  the  day  when  the 
National  Convention  of  France  pronounced  its  sentence,  Royal  dignity 
is  abolished.  From  that  day  many  nations  will  in  future  reckon  the 
era  of  their  political  existence.  From  the  beginning  of  civil  establish- 
ments Kings  have  been  in  opposition  to  their  nations — but  now  they 
rise  up  to  annihilate  Kings.  Reason,  when  she  darts  her  rays  into 
every  corner,  lays  open  eternal  truths — she  alone  enables  us  to  pass 
sentence  on  despots,  hitherto  the  scare-crow  of  other  nations.' 

•'  But  the  most  distinct  exhibition  of  principle  is  to  be  seen  in  a 
report  from  the  diplomatic  committee,  who  were  commissioned  to  delibe- 
rate on  the  conduct  which  France  was  to  hold  with  other  nations. 
0.1  this  report  was  founded  the  decree  of  the  15th  of  December  1793. 
The  reporter  addresses  the  Convention  as  follows : 

"'The  Committees  of  Finance  and  War  ask  in  the -beginning, 
What  is  the  object  of  the  war  which  we  have  taken  in  hand  ?  With- 
out all  doubt  the  object  is  the  annihilation  of  all  privileges,  war  with 
the  palaces,  and  peace  with  the  cottages.  These  are  the  principles  on 
which  your  declaration  of  war  is  founded.  All  tyranny,  all  privilege* 
must  be  treated  as  an  enemy  in  the  countries  where  we  set  our  foot. 
This  is  the  genuine  result  of  our  principles.  But  it  is  not  with  Kings 
alone  that  we  wage  war — were  these  our  sole  enemies,  we  should  only 
have  to  bring  down  ten  or  twelve  heads.  We  have  to  fight  with  all 
their  accomplices,  with  the  privileged  orders,  who  devour  and  have 
oppressed  the  people  during  many  centuries. 

"  *We  must  therefore  declare  ourselves  for  a  revolutionary  power 
in  all  the  countries  into  which  w^e  enter,  (loud  applauses  from  the 
Assembly) — nor  need  we  put  on  the  cloak  of  humanity,  we  disdain 
such  little  arts.  We  must  clothe  ourselves  with  all  the  brilliancy  of 
reason,  and  all  the  force  of  the  nation.  We  need  not  mask  our  princi- 
ples— the  despots  know  them  already.  The  first  thing  we  must  do  is 
to  ring  the  alarm  bell,  for  insurrection.  We  must,  in  a  solemn  man- 
ner, let  the  people  see  the  banishment  of  their  tyrants  and  privileged 
casts — otherwise,  the  people,  accustomed  to  their  fetters,  will  not  be 
able  to  break  their  bonds.  It  will  efli?ct  nothing,  merely  to  excite  a 
rising  of  the  people — this  would  only  be  giving  them  words  instead  of 
standing  by  them. 

"  •  And  since,  in  this  manner,  we  ourselves  are  the  Revolutionary 
Administration,  all  that  is  against  the  rights  of  the  people  must  be 


BARRUEL    AND    ROBISON.  381 

overthrown,  at  our  entry — we  must  display  our  principles  by  actually 
destroying  all  tyranny  ;  and  our  generals,  after  having  chased  away 
the  tyrants  and  their  satellites,  must  proclaim  to  the  people  that  they 
have  brought  them  happiness ;  and  then,  on  the  spot,  they  must  sup- 
press tithes,  feudal  rights,  and  every  species  of  servitude. 

"  '  But  we  shall  have  done  nothing  if  we  stop  here.  Aristocracy 
still  domineers — we  must  therefore  suppress  all  authorities  existing  in 
the  hands  of  the  upper  classes.  When  the  revolutiouary  authority 
appears,  there  must  nothing  of  the  old  establishment  remain.  A  popu- 
lar system  must  be  introduced — every  office  must  be  occupied  by  new 
functionaries — and  the  Sansculottes*  must  every  where  have  a  share 
in  the  administration. 

"  '  Still  nothing  is  done,  till  we  declare  aloud  the  precision  of  our 
principles  to  such  as  want  only  a  half  freedom.  We  must  say  to 
them — if  you  think  of  compromising  with  the  priviledged  casts,  we 
cannot  suffer  such  dealing  with  tyrants — they  are  our  enemies,  and  we 
must  treat  them  as  enemies,  because  they  are  neither  for  liberty  nor 
equality.  Show  yourselves  disposed  to  receive  a  free  constitution — 
and  the  Convention  will  not  only  stand  by  you,  but  will  give  you  per- 
manent support;  we  will  defend  you  against  the  vengeance  of  your 
tyrants,  against  their  attacks,  and  against  their  return.  Therefore 
abolish  from  among  you  the  Nobles — and  every  ecclesiastical  and 
military  incorporation.  They  are  incompatible  with  equality.  Hence- 
forward you  are  citizens,  all  equal  in  rights — equally  called  upon  to 
rule,  to  defend,  and  to  serve  your  country.  The  agents  of  the  French 
Republic  will  instruct  and  assist  you  in  forming  a  free  constitution, 
and  assure  you  of  happiness  and  fraternity.' 

"  This  report  was  loudly  applauded,  and  a  decree  formed  in  pre- 
cise conformity  to  its  principles.  Both  were  ordered  to  be  translated 
into  all  languages,  and  copies  to  be  furnished  to  their  generals,  with 
orders  to  have  them  carefully  dispersed  in  the  countries  which  they 
invaded." 

*  Sansculotte  literally  means  without  small  clothes.  It  was  bestowed  in  derision 
by  the  well  dressed  royalists  upon  the  republicans  of  France;  who  acknowledged  its 
applicability,  and  assumed  the  term  ;  sayme  our  condition  is  the  result  of  the  iniquitous 
system  of  government,  which  hitherto  has  been  conducted  for  the  benefit  of  a  few,  to 
the  degradation  and  bebasement  of  the  great  mass  of  the  people.  The  French  republi- 
cans were  also  styled  Jacobins,  which  arose  merely  from  the  circumstance  of  their 
meetings  being  held  in  a  monastery  formerly  belonging  to  an  order  of  monks  thus 
denominated.  And  this  name,  in  foreign  countries,  has  been  made  to  mean  something 
awfully  atrocious.  The  apostate,  Cheetham.  attempted  to  play  this  pitiful  game,  by 
Btyhng  the  republicans  of  New-York,  Martlingmen,  m  consequence  of  their  meeting  at 
a  house  kept  by  Abraham  Martling.  Such  contemptible  resorts  show  the  baseness  of 
the  cause  intended  to  be  benefited  by  them. 


382  ANTIMASONIC    WRITERS  I 

The  reader  is  aware,  that  the  principal  powers  of  Europe  had  com- 
bined for  the  purpose  of  putting  down  the  French  Republic,  and  resto- 
ring the  ancient  regime;  and  still  they  complained  of  these  retaliatory 
measures. 

what  course  did  the  American  revolutionists  take,  under  similar 
circumstances?  In  the  confederation  of  the  American  States,  in  1781, 
the  11th  article  says,  "Canada  acceding  to  the  confederation,  and  join- 
ing the  measures  of  the  United  States,  shall  be  admitted  into  the 
Union."  An  army  was  sent  into  Canada,  for  the  purpose  of  inducing 
and  aiding  the  people  of  that  province  to  assert  and  maintain  their 
independence. 

Let  us  see  how  the  government  of  the  United  States  treated  this 
revolutionary  principle  in  latter  times.  The  following  is  an  extract  of 
a  speech  delivered  by  Henry  Clay,  in  the  House  of  Representatives, 
in  1818,  in  favor  of  acknowledging  the  independence  of  the  provinces 
of  La  Plata,  in  South  America : 

*'  I  maintain,  said  he,  that  an  oppressed  people  are  authorized,  when- 
ever they  can,  to  rise  and  break  their  fetters.  This  was  the  great  prin- 
ciple of  the  English  revolution.  It  was  the  great  principle  of  our  own. 
We  must,  therefore,  pass  sentence  of  condemnation  upon  the  founders 
of  our  liberty  ; — say  that  they  were  rebels,  traitors, — and  that  we  are, 
att  this  moment,  legislating  without  competent  powers,  before  we  can 
condemn  the  cause  of  Spanish  America.  Our  revolution  was  mainly 
directed  against  the  theory  of  tyranny.  We  had  suffered  compara- 
tively but  little, — we  had  in  some  respects  been  kindly  treated, — but 
our  intrepid  intelligent  fathers  saw,  in  the  usurpations  of  the  power  to 
levy  an  inconsiderable  tax,  the  long  train  of  oppressive  acts  that  was  to 
follow.  They  rose — they  breasted  the  storm — they  conquered,  and  left 
us  the  glorious  legacy  of  freedom.  Spanish  America,  for  centuries, 
has  been  doomed  to  the  practical  effects  of  an  odious  tyranny.  If  wt 
were  justified,  she  is  more  than  justified." 

The  sentiments  of  Mr.  Clay  were  responded  to  by  Congress,  and 
La  Plata  was  decfared  by  o.ur  government  free  ahd  independent. 

The  French  revolution  was  hailed  with  joy  by  the  friends  of  lib- 
erty, in  England,  as  appears  by  the  following  document.  Mr.  Robi- 
son  states,  that  while  his  book  was  printing,  he  obtained  a  work  then 
just  published  in  Paris.  It  confirms,  says  he,  all  that  I  have  said 
respecting  the  use  made  of  the  freemason  lodges.  It  gives  a  particular 
account  of  the  formation  of  the  Jacobin  Club,  by  the  Club  Breton.  The 
author  writes :  We  may  judge  of  what  the  duke  of  Orleans  could  do 


BARRUEL    AND    ROBISON.  *  383 

in  other  places,  by  what  he  did  during  his  stay  in  England,  He 
gained  over  to  his  interest  Lord  Stanhope  and  Dr.  Price,  two  of  the 
most  respectable  members  of  the  Revolution  Society.  This  society 
even  sent  to  the  Assembly  an  ostensible  letter,  in  which  are  the  fpllow- 
ing  passages :  '  '     ^ 

"  The  Society  congratulates  the  National  Assembly  of  France  on 
the  Revolution  which  has  taken  place  in  that  country.  It  cannot  but 
earnestly  wish  for  the  happy  conclusion  of  so  important  a  Revolution^ 
and,  at  the  same  time,  express  the  extreme  satisfaction  which  it  feels  in 
reflecting  on  the  glorious  example  which  France  has  given  to  the 
world. 

"The  Society  resolves  unanimously  to  invite  all  the  people  of  Eng- 
land to  establish  Societies  through  the  kingdom,  to  support  the  princi- 
ples of  the  Revolution,  to  form  correspondences  between  themselves, 
and  by  these  means  to  establish  a  great  concerted,  Union  of  all  the 
true  Friends  of  Liberty." 

Accordingly  (says  the  French  author)  this  was  executed,  and 
Jacobin  Clubs  were  established  in  several  cities  of  England,  Scotland, 
and  Ireland. 

The  following  passages  are  quoted  by  Mr.  Robison  from  a  vindica- 
tion published  by  Professor  Weishaupt,  against  the  charges  brought 
against  him,  by  those  who  wished  to  retain  the  mass  of  the  people  in  a 
state  of  vassalage : 

•  All  men,  says  he,  are  subject  to  errors,  and  the  best  man  is  he 
who  best  conceals  them.  I  have  never  been  guilty  of  such  vices  or 
follies :  (as  he  had  been  accused  of)  for  proof,  I  appeal  to  the  whole 
tenor  of  my  life,  which  my  reputation,  and  my  struggles  with  hostile 
cabals,  had  brought  completely  into  public  view  long  before  the  insti- 
tution of  this  Order,  without  abating  any  thing  of  that  flattering  regard 
which  was  paid  to  me  by  the  first  persons  of  my  country  and  its  neigh- 
borhood ;  a  regard  well  evinced  by  their  confidence  in  me  as  the  best 
instructor  of  their  children. 

'  It  is  well  known  that  I  have  made  the  chair  which  I  occupied  in 
the  University  of  Ingolstadt,  the  resort  of  the  first  class  of  the  Ger- 
man youth. 

•  The  tenor  of  my  life  has  been  the  opposite  of  every  thing  that  is 
vile ;  and  no  man  can  lay  any  such  thing  to  my  charge.  I  have  rea- 
son to  rejoice  that  these  writings  have  appeared ;  they  are  a  vindication 
of  the  order  and  of  my  conduct.  I  can,  and  must  declare  to  God,  and 
I  do  it  now  in  the  most  solemn  manner,  that  in  my  whole  life  I  never 


384  ANTIMASONIC    WRITERS! 

saw  or  heard  of  the  so  much  condemned  secret  writings ;  and  in  particu- 
lar, respecting  these  abominable  means,  such  as  poisoning,  abortion, 
etc.,  was  it  ever  known  to  me  in  any  case,  that  any  of  my  friends  or 
acquaintances  ever  even  thought  of  them,  advised  them,  or  made  any 
use  of  them. 

'  It  was  the  full  conviction  of  what  could  be  done,  if  every  man 
were  placed  in  the  office  for  which  he  was  fitted  by  nature  and  a 
proper  education,  which  first  suggested  to  me  the  plan  of  illumination. 

'  I  am  proud  to  be  known  to  the  world  as  the  founder  of  the  Order 
of  Illuminati :  and  I  repeat  my  wish  to  have  for  my  epitaph, 

*  Hin  situs  est  Phaethon,  currus  auriga  paterni, 
'  Quern  si  non  tenuit,  magnis  tamen  excidit  ausis." 

This  is  the  resting  place  of  Phaeton,  son  of  Apollo;  he  failed  to 
guide  the  chariot  of  the  sun,  and  fell — yet  nobly  fell,  so  lofty  the 
attempt. 

It  is  reproachful  to  human  nature,  that  men  respectable  for  their 
acquirements,  and  of  good  standing  in  society,  should  be  induced 
through  self-interest,  to  use  every  possible  means  by  calumny  and  false- 
hood to  destroy  the  character  and  usefulness  of  persons  like  professor 
Weishaupt,  who  exert  their  talents  with  a  view  of  bettering  the  condi- 
tion of  their  fellow  men.  And  it  is  to  be  lamented  that  many  of  those 
for  whose  benefit  such  philanthropists  labor,  join  in  the  hue  and  cry 
against  them. 

The  following  appropriate  language  is  applied  to  the  writings  of 
Messrs.  Barruel  and  Robison,  in  an  address  of  De  Witt  Clinton,  past 
grand  master  of  the  State  of  New  York,  at  the  installation  of  Stephen 
Van  Rensselaer,  as  grand  master  ofthe  lodges  of  this  State,  September, 
1825. 

"  Our  fraternity  has  suffered  under  the  treatment  of  well-meaning 
friends,  who  have  undesignedly  inflicted  more  injuries  upon  it  than  its 
most  virulent  enemies.  The  absurd  accounts  of  its  origin  and  history, 
in  most  of  the  books  that  treat  of  it,  have  proceeded  from  enthusiasm 
operating  on  credulity  and  the  love  of  the  marvellous.  An  imbecile 
friend  often  does  more  injury  than  an  avowed  foe.  The  calumnies  of 
Barruel  and  Robison,  who  labored  to  connect  our  society  with  the 
Illuminati  and  to  represent  it  us  inimical  to  social  order  and  good 
government,  have  been  consigned  to  everlasting  conlempt,  while  exag- 
gerated and  extravagant  friendly  accounts  and  representations  continu- 
ally stare  us  in  the  face,  and  mortify  our  intellectual  discrimination,  by 
ridiculous  claims  to  unlimited  antiquity.     Nor  ought  it  to  be  forgotten, 


BARRUEL    AND    ROBISON.  385 

that  genuine  masonry  is  adulterated  by  sophistications  and  interpola- 
tions foreign  from  the  simpliciiy  and  snhli'inily  of  its  nature.  To  this 
magnificent  Temple  of  the  Corinthian  order,  there  have  been  added 
Gothic  erections,  which  disfigure  its  beauty  and  derange  its  symmetry. 
The  adoption  in  some  cases  of  frivolous  pageantry  and  fantastic  mum- 
mery, equally  revolting  to  good  taste  and  genuine  masonry,  has 
exposed  us  to  much  animadversion :  but  our  institution,  clothed  with 
celestial  virtue,  and  armed  with  the  panoply  of  truth,  has  defied  all 
the  storms  of  open  violence,  and  resisted  all  the  attacks  of  insidious 
imposture;  and  it  will  equally  triumph  over  the  errors  of  misguided 
friendship,  which,  like  the  transit  of  a  planet  over  the  disk  of  the  sun, 
may  produce  a  momentary  obscuration,  but  will  instantly  leave  it  in 
the  full  radiance  of  its  glory V — (Freemason's  Library,  p.  338.) 

Horrors  of  the  American  Revolution,  etc. 

The  revolution  of  France  was  agreeable  to  the  will,  doubtless,  of 
ninety-nine  out  of  a  hundred  of  its  inhabitants.  The  republic  was  the 
rule  of  the  people  ;  the  French  citizens,  therefore,  who  resisted  it,  were 
rebels,  were  traitors  to  their  country.  And  although  the  severities 
exercised  towards  them  in  many  cases,  can  by  no  means  be  justified,  yet 
reproaches  against  the  republic,  on  the  score  of  cruelty,  come  with  a 
very  ill  grace  from  its  enemies. 

In  proof  of  which,  I  will  call  to  remembrance  some  of  the  appalling 
scenes  of  the  American  revolutionary  war,  showing  how  rebels  to  a 
king  were  treated  by  his  myrmidons  ;  which  ought  to  be  often  recur- 
red to,  and  held  up  to  the  eternal  execration  of  posterity.  This  would 
be  mote  becoming  Americans  than  to  dwell  upon  the  horrors  of  the 
French  revolution,  relying  on  the  garbled  accounts  of  its  domestic  and 
foreign  foes.  For  this  purpose  I  shall  give  the  following  indubitable 
facts. 

The  policy  of  the  British  government  evidently  was  to  waste  away 
the  small  number  of  troops  which  America  had  raised,  and  to  dete^ 
others  from  entering  into  the  war,  by  the  inhuman  means  here  detailed- 
Extracts  from  Mrs.  Watner's  History  of  the  American    Revolu- 
tion, (v.  iii,  p.  34.) 

"  Many  of  the  captured  Americans  were  sent  to  Great  Britain* 
where  they  were  for  a  time  treated  with  almost  every  severity  short  o 
death.     Some  of  them  i^ere  transported  to  the  East  Indies  ;  others  pu 
to  menial  services  on  board   their  ships:    but  after  some  time   had 
elapsed,  those  in  general  who  were  conveyed  to  England,  m  ight  be 

49 


386  HORRORS    OF    THB 

deemed  happy,  when  their  sufferings  were  compared  with  those  of 
their  countrymen  who  perished  on  board  the  prison  ships  in  America, 
under  the  eye  of  British  commanders  of  renown,  and  who  in  many 
respects,  w'cre  civilized  and  polite. 

"  No  time  will  wipe  off  the  stigma  that  is  left  on  the  names  of  Clin- 
ton and  Howe,  when  posterity  look  over  the  calculations,  and  find  that 
during  six  years  of  their  command  in  New-York,  eleven  thousand 
Americans  died  on  board  the  Jersey,  a  single  prison  ship,  stationed 
before  that  city  for  the  reception  of  those  victims  of  despair.  Nor  was 
the  proportion  smaller  of  those  who  perished  in  their  jails,  dungeons* 
and  prison  hulks. 

"  It  is  true  that  in  England,  the  language  of  government  held  up 
all  the  American  prisoners  as  rebels,  traitors,  insurgents,  and  pirates; 
"yet  this  did  not  prevent  the  compassionate  heart  from  the  exercise  of 
the  benign  virtues  of  charity  and  brotherly  kindness.  The  lenient 
hand  of  many  individuals  was  stretched  out  for  their  relief.  While 
their  sorrows  were  thus  softened,  their  brethren  in  America,  in  the 
neighborhood  of  parents,  children,  and  the  most  affectionate  partners, 
not  being  permitted  to  receive  from  them  the  ?iecessary  relief,  were 
dyiiig  by  thousands,  amidst  famine,  filth  and  disease" 

In  speaking  of  the  ravages  of  the  British  on  the  borders  of  the 
state  of  Connecticut,  under  the  command  of  the  traitor  Arnold,  Mrs, 
Warren  observes : 

"-  New  London  was  more  seriously  attacked ;  and  after  a  short  and 
brave  resistance,  plundered  and  burnt.  As  soon  as  the  town  had  sur- 
rendered, a  number  of  soldiers  entered  the  garrison  ;  the  officer  who 
headed  the  party  inquired  who  commanded  it?  The  valiant  Colonel 
Ledyard  stepped  forward,  and  replied  with  ease  and  gallantry,  *  I  did, 
but  you  do  now ;'  and  at  the  same  time  delivered  his  sword  to  a  Bri- 
tish officer.  The  barbarous  ruffian,  instead  of  receiving  his  submission 
like  the  generous  victor,  immediately  stabbed  the  brave  American. 
Nor  was  his  death  the  only  sacrifice  made  in  that  place,  to  the  wanton 
vengeance  of  the  foes  of  America :  several  other  officers  of  merit  were 
assassinated,  after  the  surrender  of  the  town  ;  while  their  more  help- 
less connexions  experienced  the  usual  cruel  fate  of  cities  captured  by 
inhuman  conquerors." — (Vol.  iii,  p.  90.) 

Fort  Griswold,  above  alluded  to,  was  probably  defended  with  as  much 
bravery  as  was  exhibited  on  any  occasion  during  our  revolutionary 
war.  The  whole  garrison,  with  the  exception  of  one  who  secreted 
himself,  were  inhumanly  butchered.     Those  who  had  been  wounded 


AMERICAN    REVOLUTION,    ETC.  B87 

during  the  action,  were  crammed  into  carts,  and  precipitated  down  the 
steep  hill  on  which  the  fort  stands  among  the  rocks  below  ;  where  those 
who  were  not  instantly  killed,  were  left  to  perish.  'J  his  is  the  man- 
ner in  which  British  officers  reward  bravery  in  an  enemy.  The  state" 
ment  here  made  I  have  from  an  eye  vvimess,  Thomas  Herttell,  Esq.i 
who  will  substantiate  the  facts,  if  denied.  Mr.  Herttell  was  in  sight  o^ 
the  fort  at  the  time  of  the  aciion,  and  learnt  all  the  particulars  soon 
after. 

The  following  account  of  the  treatment  and  sufferings  of  the  Amer- 
ican prisoners  on  board  of  the  Jersey  prison  ship,  is  taken  from  the 
recently  published  Narrative  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Andros,  of  Berkley 
Massachusetts : 

"  We  were  captured,  on  the  27th  of  August,  by  the  Solebay  Frigate. 
and  safely  stowed  away  in  the  old  Jersey  prison  ship  at  New- York* 
This  was  an  old  64  gun  ship,  which  through  age  had  become  unfit  for 
further  actual  service.  Her  dark  and  filthy  external  appearance  per- 
fectly corresponded  with  the  death  and  despair  that  reigned  within  j 
and  nothing  could  be  more  foreign  from  the  truth  than  to  paint  her 
with  colors  flying,  or  any  circumstance  or  appendage  to  please  the  eye. 
She  was  moored  about  three  quarters  of  a  mile  to  the  eastward  of 
Brooklyn  Ferry,  near  a  tide  mill  on  the  Long  Island  shore.  The 
nearest  distance  to  land  was  about  twenty  rods.  And  doubtless  no 
other  ^<hip  in  the  British  navy  ever  proved  the  means  of  the  destruc- 
tion of  so  many  human  beings.  It  is  computed  that  no  less  than  eleven 
thousand  American  seamen  perished  in  her !  But  after  it  was  known 
that  it  was  next  to  certain  death  to  confine  a  prisoner  there,  the  inhu- 
manity and  wickedness  of  doing  it  was  about  the  same  as  if  he  had 
been  taken  into  the  city  and  deliberately  shot  on  some  public  square. 
But  as  if  mercy  had  fled  from  the  earth,  here  we  were  doomed  to  dwell 
And  never,  while  I  was  on  board,  did  any  Howard,  or  angel  of  pity,  ap- 
pear  to  inquire  into,  or  alleviate  our  woes.  Once  or  twice,  by  the  order 
of  a  stranger  on  the  quarter  deck,  a  bag  of  apples  were  hurled  promis. 
cuously  into  the  midst  of  hundreds  of  prisoners  crowed  together  thick 
as  they  could  stand;  life  and  limbs  were  endangered  by  the  scramble. 
This,  instead  of  compassion,  was  a  cruel  sport.  When  I  saw  it  about 
to  commence,  I  fled  to  the  most  distant  part  of  the  ship.  On  the  com. 
mencement  of  the  first  evening,  we  were  driven  down  to  darkness 
between  decks  secured  by  iron  gratings,  and  armed  soldiery.  And 
now  a  scene  of  horror,  which  baffles  all  description,  presented  itself. 
On  every  side  wretched,  desponding  shapes  of  men  could  be  seen. 


883  HORRORS   OF    THE 

Around  the  well  room  an  armed  guard  were  forcing  up  the  prisoners  to 
the  winches,  to  clear  the  ship  of  water  and  prevent  her  sinking,  and  little 
else  could  be  heard  but  mutual  execrations,  reproaches  and  insuhs. 
During  this  operation  there  was  a  small  dim  light  admitted  below,  but 
it  served  to  make  darkness  more  visible,  and  horror  more  terrific. 

"  When  I  became  an  inmate  of  this  span  abode  of  suflJering,  despair, 
and  death,  there  were  about  four  hundred  prisoners  on  board,  but  in  a 
short  time  they  amounted  to  twelve  hundred.  And  in  proportion  to 
our  numbers,  the  mortality  increased.  All  the  most  deadly  diseases 
were  pressed  into  the  service  of  the  king  of  terrors,  but  his  prime  min- 
isters were  dysentery,  small  pox,  and  yellow  fever.  There  were  two 
hospital  ships  near  the  Old  Jersey,  but  these  were  soon  so  crowded 
with  the  sick,  that  they  could  receive  no  more.  The  consequence  was, 
that  the  diseased  and  the  heahhy  were  mingled  together  in  the  main 
ship.  In  a  short  time  we  had  two  hundred  or  more  sick  and  dying, 
lodged  in  the  fore  part  of  the  lower  gun  deck,  where  all  the  prisoners  were 
confined  at  night.  Utter  derangement  was  a  common  symptom  ot  yel- 
low fever,  and  to  increase  the  horror  of  the  darkness  that  shrouded  us, 
(for  we  were  allowed  no  lights  betwixt  decks,)  the  voice  of  warning 
would  be  heard,  '  Take  heed  to  yourselves.  There  is  a  mad-man 
stalking  through  the  ship  with  a  knife  in  his  hand.'  I  sometinies  found 
the  man  a  corpse  in  the  morning,  by  whose  side  I  lay  down  a«  night 
At  another  time  he  would  become  deranged,  and  attempt  in  darkness 
to  rise,  and  stumble  over  the  bodies  that  every  where  covered  the  deck. 
In  this  case  I  had  to  hold  him  in  his  place  by  main  strength.  In  spite  of 
my  efforts  he  would  sometimes  rise,  and  then  I  had  to  close  in  with  him^ 
trip  up  his  heels  and  lay  him  again  upon  the  deck.  While  so  many  were 
sick  with  raging  fever,  there  was  a  loud  cry  for  water,  but  none  could  be 
had  except  on  the  upper  deck,  and  but  one  allowed  to  ascend  at  a  time. 
The  suffering  then  from  the  rage  of  thirst,  during  the  night,  was  very 
great.  Nor  was  it  at  all  times  safe  to  go  up.  Provoked  by  the  contin- 
ual cry  for  leave  to  ascend,  when  there  was  already  one  on  deck,  the 
sentry  would  push  them  back  with  his  bayonet.  By  one  of  these 
thrusts,  which  was  more  spiteful  and  violent  than  common,  I  had  a 
narrow  escape  of  my  life. — In  the  morning  the  hatchways  were 
thrown  open  and  we  were  allowed  to  ascend,  all  at  once,  and  remain 
on  the  upper  deck  during  the  day.  But  the  first  object  that  met  our 
riew  in  the  morning  was  a  most  appalling  spectacle.  A  boat  loaded 
with  dead  bodies,  conveyed  them  to  the  Long  Island  shore,  where 
they  were  slightly  covered  with  sand.     I  sometimes  used  to  stand  to 


AMERICAN    REVOLUTION,  ETC.  389 

count  the  number  of  times  the  shovel  was  filled  with  sand  to  cover  a 
dead  body.  And  certain  I  am  that  a  few  high  tides  or  torrents  of  rain 
must  have  disinterred  them.  And  had  they  not  been  removed,  I  should 
suppose  the  shore,  even  now,  would  be  covered  with  huge  piles  of  bones 
of  American  seamen.  There  were  probably  four  hundred  on  board, 
who  had  never  had  the  small  pox, — some,  perhaps,  might  have  been 
saved  by  inoculation.  But  humanity  was  wanting  to  try  even  this 
experiment.  Let  our  disease  be  what  it  would,  we  were  abandoned  to 
our  fate. 

"  Now  and  then  an  American  physician  was  brought  in  as  a  cap- 
tive, but  if  he  could  obtain  his  parole  he  left  the  ship,  nor  could  we 
much  blame  him  for  this.  For  his  own  death  was  next  to  certain,  and 
his  success  in  saving  others  by  medicine  in  our  situation,  was  small. 
I  remember  only  two  American  physicians  who  tarried  on  board  a  few 
days.  No  English  physicians,  or  any  one  from  the  city,  ever,  to  my 
knowledge,  came  near  us.  There  were  thirteen  of  the  crew,  to  which 
I  belonged,  but  in  a  short  time  all  but  three  or  four  were  dead.  The 
most  healthy  and  vigorous  were  .seized  first  with  the  fever,  and  died  in 
a  few  hours.  For  them  there  seemed  to  be  no  mercy.  My  constitu. 
tion  was  less  muscular  and  plethoric,  and  I  escaped  the  fever  longer 
than  any  of  the  thirteen,  except  one,  and  the  first  onset  was  less  violent. 
There  is  one  palliating  circumstance  as  to  the  inhumanity  of  the 
British,  which  ought  to  be  mentioned.  The  prisoners  were  furnished 
with  buckets  and  brushes  to  cleanse  the  ship,  and  with  vinegar  to 
sprinkle  her  inside.  But  their  indolence  and  their  despair  was  such 
that  they  would  not  use  them,  or  but  rarely.  And,  indeed,  at  this  time, 
the  encouragement  to  do  it  was  small.  For  the  whole  ship,  from  her 
keel  to  the  tafferel,  was  equally  afffcted,  and  contained  pestilence  suffi- 
cient to  desolate  a  world ;  disease  and  death  were  wrought  into  her 
timbers.  At  the  time  I  left  her,  it  is  to  be  presumed  a  more  filthy,  con- 
tagious, and  deadly  abode  for  human  beings,  never  existed  among 
Christianized  people." 

The  following  is  extracted  from  an  account  of  the  war,  by  an  Eng- 
lish historian,  William  Gordon,  D.  D. 

'•  Great  complaints  are  made  of  the  horrid  usage  the  Americans 
met  with  after  they  were  captured.  The  garrison  of  Fort  Washington 
surrendered  by  capitulation  to  general  Howe,  the  16th  of  Novemb^er. 
The  terms  were,  that  the  fort  should  be  surrendered,  the  troops  be 
considered  prisoners  of  war,  and  that  the  American  officers  should 
keep  their  baggage  and  side  arms.     These  articles  were  signed  aQd 


390  HORRORS    OF    THE 

afterwards  published  in  the  New- York  papers.  Major  Williams,  of 
Rawling's  rifle  regiment,  in  doing  his  duly  that  day,  fell  into  the  hands 
of  the  enemy.  The  haughty,  imperious  deportment  of  the  officers,  and 
the  insolent  scurrility  of  the  soldiers  of  the  British  army,  soon  dispelled 
his  hopes  of  being  treated  with  lenity.  Many  of  the  American  officers 
were  plundered  of  their  baggage,  and  robbed  of  their  side  arms,  hats, 
cockades,  etc.,  and  otherwise  grossly  ill-treated.  The  fourth  day  of 
their  captivity,  Rawlings,  Mclntire  and  himself,  all  wounded  officers, 
were  put  into  one  common  dirt  cart,  and  dragged  through  the  city  of 
New-York,  as  objects  of  derision,  reviled  as  rebels,  and  treated  with 
the  utmost  contempt.  From  the  cart  they  were  set  down  at  the  door  of 
an  old  waste  house,  the  remains  of  Hamden  Hall,  near  Bridewell. 
The  privates  in  the  coldest  season  of  the  year  were  closely  confined  in 
churches,  sugar  houses,  and  other  open  buildings,  which  admitted  all 
kind  of  weather,  and  were  subjected  to  the  severest  kind  of  persecution 
that  ever  unfortunate  captives  suffered.  Officers  were  insulted  and 
often  struck  for  attempting  to  afford  the  miserable  privates  some  relief 

•'  Major  Williams  verily  believed,  that  not  less  than  fifteen  hundred 
prisoners  perished  in  the  course  of  a  few  weeks  in  the  city  of  New- 
York,  and  that  this  dreadful  mortality  was  principally  owing  to  the 
want  of  provisions  and  extreme  cold. — (Vol.  ii.  p.  427.) 

An  extract  from  Gen.  Ethan  Allen's  narrative  of  his  capture  and 
treatment  by  the  British,  in  the  American  revolutionary  war : 

"  I  next  invite  the  reader  to  a  retrospective  sight  and  consideration 
of  the  doleful  scene  of  inhumanity,  exercised  by  Gen.  Sir  William 
Howe,  and  the  army  under  his  command,  towards  the  prisoners  taken 
on  Long  Island,  on  the  27th  of  August,  1776  ;  sundry  of  whom  were, 
in  an  inhuman  and  barbarous  manner,  murdered  after  they  had  surren- 
dered their  arms ;  particularly  a  Gen.  Woodhull,  of  the  militia,  who 
was  hacked  to  pieces  with  cutlasses,  by  the  light  horsemen,  and  a  Capl. 
Fellows  of  the  Continental  army,  who  was  thrust  through  with  a  bayo- 
net,  of  which  wound  he  died  instantly. 

"  Sundry  others  were  hanged  up  by  the  neck  till  they  were  dead, 
five  on  the  limb  of  a  white  oak  tree,  and  without  any  reason  nssigned 
except  that  they  were  fighting  in  defence  of  the  only  blessing  worth 
preserving :  and,  indeed,  those  who  had  the  misfortune  to  /all  into 
their  hands  at  Fort  Washington,  in  the  month  of  November  following, 
met  with  but  very  little  better  usage,  except  that  they  were  reserved 
from  immediate  death  to  famish  and  die  with  hunger ;  in  fine,  the  word 
rebel,  was  thought,  by  the  enemy,  sufficient  to  sanctify  whatever  cruel- 


AMERICAN    RETOLUTION,   ETC.  391 

ties  they  were  pleased  to  inflict,  death  itself  not  excepted;  but  to  pass 
over  particulars,  which  would  swell  my  narrative  far  beyond  my 
design, 

•'  The  private  soldiers  who  were  brought  to  New- York,  wer® 
crowded  into  churches,  and  environed  with  slavish  Hessian  guards,  a 
people  of  a  strange  language,  who  were  sent  to  America,  for  no  other 
design  but  cruelty  and  desolation.  I  have  gone  into  the  churches,  and 
seen  sundry  of  the  prisoners  in  the  agonies  of  death,  in  consequence  of 
very  hunger,  and  others  speechless,  and  near  death,  biting  pieces  of 
chips  ;  others  pleading  for  God's  sake,  for  something  to  eat,  and  at  the 
same  time,  shivering  with  cold.  Hollow  groans  saluted  my  ears,  and 
despair  seemed  to  be  imprinted  on  every  of  their  countenances.  The 
filth  of  these  churches,  in  consequence  of  the  fluxes,  was  almost  beyond 
description.  1  have  seen  in  one  of  them,  seven  dead,  at  the  same  time, 
lying  among  the  excrements  of  their  bodies. 

"  It  was  a  common  practice  of  the  enemy,  to  convey  the  dead  from 
these  filthy  places,  in  carts,  to  be  slightly  buried ;  and  I  have  seen 
whole  gangs  of  tories  making  derision,  and  exulting  over  the  deadt 
saying,  'there  goes  another  load  of  d — d  rebels.'  I  have  observed  the 
British  soldiers  to  be  full  of  their  insulting  jokes,  and  vaunting  on  those 
occasions;  but  they  appeared  to  me  less  malignant  than  tories. 

"  The  provisions  dealt  out  to  the  prisoners,  were  by  no  means  suffi- 
cient for  the  support  of  life  :  It  was  deficient  in  quantity,  and  much 
more  so  in  quality.  The  prisoners  often  presented  me  with  a  sample 
of  their  bread,  which  was  damaged  to  that  degree,  that  it  was  loath- 
some, and  unfit  to  be  eaten.  Their  allowance  of  meat  (as  they  told  me) 
was  quite  trifling,  and  of  the  basest  sort.  I  never  saw  any  of  it,  but 
was  informed,  bad  as  it  was,  it  was  swallowed  almost  as  quick  as  they 
got  hold  of  it.  I  saw  some  of  them  sucking  bones  after  they  were 
speechless;  others  who  could  yet  speak,  and  had  the  use  of  their  rea- 
son, urged  me  in  the  strongest  and  most  pathetic  manner,  to  use  my 
interest  in  their  behalf;  'for  you  plainly  see,'  said  they,  'that  we  are 
devoted  to  death  and  destruction  ;'  and,  after  I  had  examined  more  par- 
ticularly into  their  truly  deplorable  condition,  and  had  become  more 
fully  apprized  of  the  essential  facts,  I  was  persuaded  that  it  was  a  pre- 
meditated and  systematical  plan  of  the  British  council,  to  destroy  the 
youths  of  our  land,  with  a  view  thereby  to  deter  the  country,  and  make  it 
submit  to  their  despotism ;  but  that  I  could  not  do  them  any  material  ser- 
vice, and  that,  by  any  public  attempt  for  that  purpose,  I  might  endanger 
myself  by  frequenting  places  the  most  nauseous  and  contagious  that 


392  HORRORS    OF    THl 

could  be  conceived  of.  I  refrained  going  into  the  churches,  but  fre- 
quently conversed  with  such  of  the  prisoners  as  were  admitted  to  come 
out  into  the  yard,  and  found  that  the  systematical  usage  still  continued. 
The  guard  would  often  drive  me  away,  with  their  fixed  bayonets. 

"  The  integrity  of  these  suffering  prisoners,  is  hardly  credible. 
Many  hundreds,  I  am  confident,  submitted  to  death,  rather  than  enlist 
in  the  British  service,  which,  I  am  informed,  they  most  generally  were 
pressed  to  do." 

"  The  success  of  the  American  arms  at  Princeton,  had  a  mighty 
effect  on  Gen.  Howe  and  his  council.  Their  obduracy  and  death- 
designi.ig  malevolence,  in  some  measure,  abated  or  was  suspended. 
The  prisoners  who  were  condemned  to  the  most  wretched  and  cruelest 
of  deaths,  and  who  survived  to  this  period,  were  immediately  ordered 
to  be  sent  within  the  American  lines  for  exchange.  Several  of  them, 
however,  fell  dead  in  the  streets  of  New  York,  as  they  attempted  to 
walk  to  the  vessels  in  the  harbor  for  their  intended  embarkation.  Most 
of  the  residue,  who  reached  their  homes,  having  received  their  death 
wound,  could  not  be  restored  by  the  assistance  of  physicians  and  friends  ; 
but,  like  their  brother  prisoners,  fell  a  sacrifice  to  the  relentless  and 
scientific  barbarity  of  Britain.  I  took  as  much  pains  as  my  circum- 
stances would  admit  of,  to  inform  myself  not  only  of  matters  of  fact, 
but  likewise  of  the  very  design  and  aims  of  Gen.  Howe  and  his  coun- 
cil :  The  latter  of  which  I  predicated  on  the  former,  and  submit  it  to 
the  candid  public." — (See  Moore's  Memoir,  p.  157.) 

Journals  of  Congress, 

The  following  is  an  abstract  of  a  report  made  to  Congress,  by  the 
Board  of  War,  January,  1778: 

"  It  appears  that  the  general  allowance  of  provisions  for  each  pri- 
soner per  day,  does  not  exceed  four  ounces  of  meat  and  the  same  quan- 
tity of  bread,*and  ofttimes  much  less,  and  frequently  so  damaged  as  not 
to  be  eatable;  although  the  professed  allowance  is  from  eight  to  ten 
ounces  ;  and  that  the  prisoners  have  been  treated  in  general,  officers  no* 
excepted,  with  a  cruelty  scarce  to  be  paralleled,  and  with  the  most 
studied  and  illiberal  insult. 

"  That  it  has  been  a  common  practice  with  the  enemy,  on  a  pri- 
soner's being  first  captured,  to  keep  him  three,  four,  and  even  five  day  s 
without  a  morsel  of  provisions  of  any  kind,  and  then  to  tempt  hira 
to  enlist  with^the  new  levies,  in  order  to  save  his  life : — that  there  are 
numerous  instances  of  prisoners  of  war  perishing  in  all  the  agonies  o 


AMERICAN    REVOLUTION.  S98 

hunger  : — that,  being  generally  stript  of  what  clothes  they  have  when 
taken,  they  have  suffered  greatly  for  want  thereof  during  their  confine- 
ment." 

The  British  prisoners,  on  the  contrary,  were  treated  with  the 
greatest  humanity,  as  appears  by  the  following  resolution  of  Congress, 
passed  January  27,  1776  : 

"  Resolved,  That  the  committee  of  inspection  of  Esopus,  or  Kings- 
ton, be  directed  to  supply  the  prisoners  there  with  necessary  clothing, 
arid  also  provide  them  with  lodgings  and  provisions,  not  exceeding  the 
rations  allowed  to  privates  in  the  continental  army,  on  the  most  reason- 
able terms  they  can." 

But  the  worst  is  not  yet  told.  The  most  horrible,  the  most  appal- 
ling to  civilized  humanity,  is  the  employment  of  savages  as  auxiliaries 
in  war,  and  then  paying  them  a  stipulated  price  for  the  scalps  of  men, 
women  and  children.  This  was  done  in  the  American  revolutionary 
war.  A  graduated  price  was  fixed  upon  by  British  commanders  for 
the  scalps  of  soldiers,  farmers,  women  and  children. 

The  late  Col.  Willet,  who  was  second  in  command,  at  a  period  of 
the  war,  of  a  body  of  AmeHcan  troops  stationed  at  Fort  Stanwicks,  at 
the  head  of  the  Mohawk  river,  and  hearing  one  day  the  firing'  of  muskets 
in  the  woods  adjacent  to  the  fort,  he  issued  out  with  a  party  of  the  garri- 
son and  soon  met  a  little  girl  running  with  a  basket  of  blackberries  in 
her  hand, — on  advancing  further  he  found  her  companion  tomahawked 
and  scalped.  He  afterwards  overtook  a  party  of  Indians,  some  of 
whom  he  killed,  and  made  prisoners  of  others ;  on  one  of  whom  he 
found  an  official  paper,  signed  by  a  British  officer,  stating  the  amount 
that  was  paid  fot  the  various  scalps  as  above  enumerated. 

He  sent  this  document  to  Gov.  Livingston  of  Jersey,  who  then 
contemplated  to  write  a  history  of  the  war ;  but  which  he  did  not 
accomplish,  and  the  paper,  perhaps,  has  never  been  published. 

This  statement  was  made  by  Col.  Willet,  a  short  time  before  his 
death,  in  the  office  of  the  Recorder  of  this  city,  in  the  presence  of  Mr. 
Riker  the  Recorder,  Gen.  Lamb,  and  several  others,  among  whom 
was  myself 

Even  in  the  last  war  of  America  with  England,  at  the  taking  of 
Little  York,  in  Upper  Canada,  a  woman's  scalp,  with  long  hair,  was 
found  in  the  council  chamber,  hanging  behind  the  Speaker's  chair 
along  side  the  mace.  This  must  have  been  a  signal  to  the  Indians  to 
prepare  for  profitable  employment. 

50 


894  HORRORS    OF    THE 

This  fact  Is  officially  stated  by  Gen.  Dearborn  and  Commodore 
Chauncey. 

The  scalp  agent  in  this  war  resided  at  Maiden,  and  was  well  known 
to  a  friend  of  mine,  the  late  Dr.  LeBaron,  United  States'  apothecary 
general ;  who  told  me  that  the  office  and  duty  of  its  incumbent,  were 
notorious,  and  admitted  of  no  doubt.  After,  however,  the  American 
government  had  taken  into  pay  some  Indian  tribes,  and  a  letaliation 
was  apprehended,  a  council  of  war  of  British  officers  was  convened  at 
Kingston,  when  it  was  determined  to  pay  the  Indians  in  future  for 
prisoners  brought  to  the  camp  alive,  instead  of  scalps. 

The  legislature  of  New- York  passed  an  act  granting  a  bounty  on 
wolves'  heads,  on  account  of  the  depredations  made  by  them  on  the 
sheep  of  the  farmers.  This  was  a  justifiable  mode  of  warfare  against 
wolves ;  but  the  British  government,  it  is  believed,  stands  pre-eminent, 
without  a  parallel  among  nations,  in  paying  a  bounty  on  human  scalps. 

And,  however  barbarous  were  the  native  execaticmers  of  its  ven- 
geance, they  never  violated  the  chastity  of  females  that  fell  into  their 
power,  as  the  British  soldiers  were  permitted  to  do,  at  sundry  places 
during  the  last  war ;  and  they  were  led  also  to  expect  an  opportunity 
to  commit  the  same  outrage  at  New-Orleans,  as  appears  by  the  watcli- 
word,  beauty  and  booty,  given  out  on  the  night  of  the  attack. 

I  will  make  a  short  extract  from  the  Memoirs  of  William  Sampson, 
Esq.,  as  an  example  of  the  manner  in  which  kings  treat  rebels  to  th^ir 
assumed  authority,  in  case  they  do  not  succeed  in  ridding  themselves 
of  it. 

"  I  remained  in  Dublin  until  the  I6th  of  April,  when  the  terror 
became  so  atrocious  that  humanity  could  no  longer  endure  it.  In 
every  quarter  of  the  metropolis,  the  shrieks  and  groans  of  the  tortured 
were  to  be  heard,  and  that,  through  all  hours  of  the  day  and  night 
Men  were  taken  at  random  without  process  or  accusation,  and  tortured 
at  the  pleasure  of  the  lowest  dregs  of  the  community.  Bloody  theatres 
were  operied  by  these  self  constituted  inquisitors,  and  new  and  unheard 
of  machines  were  invented  for  their  diabolical  purposes.  Unhappily,- 
in  every  country,  history  is  but  the  record  of  black  crimes  ;  but  if  ever 
this  history  comes  to  be  fairly  written,  whatever  has  yet  been  held  up 
to  the  execration  of  mankind,  will  fade  before  it.  For  it  had  not  hap- 
pened before,  in  any  country  or  in  any  age,  to  inflict  torture  and  to 
offer  bribes  at  the  same  moment.  In  this  bloody  reign,  the  coward  and 
the  traitor  were  sure  of  wealth  and  power ;  the  brave  and  the  loyal  to 
suffer  death  or  torture*    The  very  mansion  of  the  viceroy  was  peo- 


AMERICAN    REVOLUTION,  ITC.  89$ 

pled  with  salaried  denouncers,  kept  in  secret,  and  led  out  only  for  pur- 
poses of  death.  Some  of  them,  struck  with  remorse,  have  since  pub- 
lished their  own  crimes,  and  some  have  been  hanged  by  their 
employers;  Men  were  hung  up  until  their  tongues  started  from  their 
mouths,  and  let  down  to  receive  fresh  offers  of  bribe  to  betray  their 
neighbor  or  discover  themselves.  If  they  neither  knew  nor  would 
discover  any  thing,  these  intervals  of  relaxation  were  followed  by  new 
and  more  poignant  inflictions.  And  when  that  courage,  which  is  the 
noble  attribute  of  my  unhappy  countrymen,  spurned  in  the  midst  of 
agony  at  the  tempter  and  the  bribe  ;  the  nearest  and  the  tenderest  rela- 
tives were  often  brought  to  witness  these  horrors ;  that  out  of  their 
feelings  might  be  extorted  some  denunciation,  true  or  false,  which  the 
virtue  of  the  sufferer  had  withheld." 

Among  other  means  of  torture  made  use  of  for  the  above  purpose, 
I  am  told  by  an  Irish  gentleman,  who  now  holds  a  respectable  office  in 
our  republic,  that  caps  made  of  pitch  mixed  with  powder  were  not 
unfrequently  placed  upon  the  heads  of  these  unfortunate  victims,  and 
then  set  on  fire. 

Unfortunate  Poland,  like  Ireland,  made  a  brave  but  inefTectual 
effort  to  shake  off  the  despotism  with  which  it  is  oppressed ;  and  the 
following  statement  shows  the  humanity  of  its  conquerors : 

"  Poland  fell,  neither  from  the  valour  nor  from  the  number  of  her 
enemies ;  she  fell  from  their  all-pervading  intrigues  and  the  power  of 
their  gold.  There  was  treachery  in  the  midst  of  her  camp,  and  in  the 
bosom  of  her  councils ;  and  to  this  foe,  no  citadel  was  ever  impregna- 
ble. Her  fall  was  followed  by  greater  outrages  upon  civilization  and 
humanity  than  have  ever  been  perpetrated  in  modern  ages.  Warsaw 
immediately  became  a  pandemonium  of  massacre,  rapine,  and  cruelty* 
of  which  not  half  the  horrors  have  been  breathed  or  written.  The 
Russian  prisoners  were  liberated,  and  revenge  added  its  fury  to  the  tide 
of  their  passions.  Fathers  and  husbands,  pinioned  for  the  dungeon 
and  the  gallows,  witnessed  the  dishonor  of  their  daughters  and  wives. 
The  sleeping  infant  attracted  no  compassion,  and  kneeling  children 
were  not  spared.  Similar  scenes  occurred  in  all  the  principal  cities  of 
the  kingdom.  Of  the  military  and  civil  officers,  great  numbers  were 
shot  or  hanged :  hundreds  of  others  were  chained  together  and 
marched  off  to  the  mines  of  Siberia.  Some,  however,  escaped,  and  are 
fugitives  in  England,  France,  and  the  United  States.  An  English 
traveller  who  has  very  recently  passed  through  Poland,  met  on  its 
northern  frontier,  some  hundreds  of  Poles,  many  of  them  apparently 


396  HORRORS    OF    THE 

of  the  higher  class  of  the  population,  chained  five  abreast,  to  an  iron 
bar,  and  marching  to  hard  labor  for  life,  in  mines  where  the  light  of 
day  never  enters.  Bat  one  of  the  latest  means  employed  for  the 
destruction  of  the  Polish  people,  is  the  exportation  of  children.  The 
imperial  ukases  for  this  measure  spread  terror  and  desolation  through- 
out the  kingdom.  Entire  schools  of  children  have  been  seized,  and 
hurried  off  in  caravans  to  the  interior  of  Russia,  without  being  allowed 
a  sight  of  their  parents ;  and  parents,  whose  natural  yearnings  over 
their  little  ones  impelled  them  to  attempt  their  rescue,  were  immedi- 
ately delivered  over  to  the  military  tribunal,  to  be  tried  for  insubordina- 
tion. But  a  peculiarly  diabolical  feature  of  this  ukase  remains  to  be 
developed.  It  only  mentions  orphan  children  ;  yet  it  defines  these  to 
be  either  children  without  fathers,  though  having  fortunes,  or  those 
havino:  fathers  but  in  indigent  circumstances.  Thus  the  two  branches 
of  this  definition  are  made  to  embrace  nearly  the  whole  youthful  popu- 
lation. The  commissaries  of  police,  in  the  cities,  and  the  commissaires 
d'arrondissmens  in  the  provinces,  were  ordered  to  invite  all  parents, 
having  families  in  distress,  to  send  in  declarations  to  that  effect,  that 
they  might  obtain  relief  from  the  government.  Many,  suffering  from 
the  prevailing  misery  of  the  country,  were  seduced  by  this  apparently 
benevolent  offer,  to  do  so.  The  children  of  all  these  came  within  the 
regulation  of  the  ukase,  and  were  speedily  torn  from  their  arms.  An 
eye  witness  has  assured  us  that  out  of  450  children  of  the  first  division 
transported,  scarcely  115  reached  Bobruysk  alive.  They  were  com- 
pelled to  walk  the  moment  they  crossed  the  frontiers ;  and  when  any 
were  unable,  from  sickness  or  fatigue,  to  proceed  further,  they  were 
abandoned,  with  a  portion  of  bread  and  water.  Several  persons 
recently  arrived  from  Siberia,  have  fallen  in  with  the  corpses  of  many 
of  these  unfortunate  innocents,  stretched  beside  the  bread  of  which  they 
could  not  avail  themselves.  The  next  step  was  to  seize  all  the  male  chil- 
dren of  the  parochial  schools ;  and  by  this  means,  and  that  of  the  recent 
military  conscription,  the  population  of  brave  but  unhappy  Poland  has 
already  been  reduced  to  half  its  former  number." 

Extracts  from  Foreign  Papers. 

The  whole  province  of  Lithuania  was,  traversed  in  different  direc- 
tions by  the  Russian  troops,  who  burnt  the  towns  and  villages,  mas- 
sacred the  prisoners,  and  killed  even  the  women  and  children. 

'•  Three  of  the  confederates  of  Dziewicki,  who  has  poisoned  him» 
»%lf,  have  been  shot  at  Warsaw,  in  the  public  place  of  execution,  with.^ 


AMERICAN    REVOLUTION,  ETC.  397 

out  the  walls.  They  all  died  with  a  display  of  courage  and  firmness, 
hoping  that  their  deaths  might  be  useful  to  their  unhappy  country. 
Olkowski,  in  particular,  showed  great  self-command.  While  on  his 
way  to  execution,  he  gathered  up  a  handful  of  the  soil,  and  exclaimed, 
'For  this  we  have  fought,  and  for  this  we  are  willing  to  die!'  The 
tombs  of  these  young  heroes  have  become  objects  of  veneration  to  the 
people,  who  strew  liowers  and  garlands  upon  them.  Many  women 
have  compromised  themselves.  A  young  lady,  named  Helen  Nowa- 
kowska,  has  received  200  stripes,  for  having  sent  provisions  to  some 
unfortunate  insurgents  who  were  dying  of  hunger  in  the  woods.  The 
horrible  punishment  was  inflicted  iu  one  of  the  barracks  of  Lublin,  to 
the  sound  of  military  music  ;  and  to  render  it  more  severe,  they  after- 
wards shaved  her  head,  and  confined  her  in  a  convent,  and  no  one  can 
tell  when  she  will  be  released.  The  wife  of  Orlowska  had  been  con- 
demned to  receive  500  stripes  for  having  sheltered  one  of  her  relations. 
She  entreated  that  her  punishment  might  be  inflicted  publicly  at  War- 
saw, in  order  that  it  might  inflame  the  courage  of  the  patriots.  This 
favor,  however,  being  denied  her,  on  the  day  her  sentence  was  to  have 
been  executed,  she  wass  found  dead  in  her  prison,  having  forced  pins 
into  her  bosom."     (The  Polonaise.) 

"  Gallicia,  of  all  the  provinces  of  Poland,  seems  to  be  suffering 
under  the  most  cruel  persecutions,  and  that  at  the  hands  of  the  cold- 
blooded diplomate,  Metternich.  Count  George  Tyskiewiez,  though  an 
old  man,  has  been  confined  in  a  subterranean  cell  for  more  than  a  year  ; 
his  wife,  who  went  to  Vienna  to  supplicate  the  late  emperor,  was 
received  by  him  just  before  his  death,  but  repulsed  by  Metternich. 
Colonel  Lariski  is  attached  to  a  wall  by  an  iron  bar  in  another  dun- 
geon; etc." 

We  see  nothing  in  revolutionary  France,  like  the  cruelties  I  have 
detailed.  Many  rebels  and  traitors  to  the  republic  were  executed,  but 
there  was  no  torture,  no  protracted  sufferings. 

And  shall  the  autocrat  of  Russia,  and  his  miserable  slaves,  the 
instruments  of  his  vengeance : — shall  the  government  of  England,  and 
those  who  approve  and  support  it,  exclaim  against  the  horrors  of  the 
French  revolution  ?  And  will  the  present  generation  in  America, 
forgetful  of  the  consideration  due  to  themselves,  and  the  toils  and  suf- 
ferings of  their  virtuous  fathers  in  purchasing  their  liberties  at  so  dear 
a  rate,  bestow  all  their  sympathies  upon  the  sufferings  of  a  few  crowned 
heads,  and  others  impudently  styling  themselves  noble, — who  are  the 
ejienaies  of  freedom,  and  whose  sole  aim  is  to  support  rank  and  privi- 


398  AN   ABSTRACT   OF 

leges,  at  the  expense  of  the  degradation  and  misery  of  the  rest  of  man. 
kind,  with  whom  they  have  no  feelings  in  common. 

Above  all,  while  irreligion  is  urged  against  France  as  the  cause  of 
cruelties  in  her  revolutionary  struggle,  let  not  the  profession  of  piety  in 
other  nations  sanctify  the  commission  of  deeds  infinitely  more  atro- 
cious ;  for  well  might  the  French  exclaim,  in  the  language  of  a  Scotch 
marshal,  *'  If  we  are  sinners,  our  enemies  are  na  saints.''^ 

It  is,  moreover,  worthy  of  remark,  that  the  atrocities  imputable  to 
Prance,  were  committed  during  the  sway  of  Robespierre,  who  pro- 
fessed as  great  regard  to  religion,  as  did  the  monarchs  that  combined 
against  the  republic,  under  a  pretence  of  preserving  it.  He  denounced 
the  Moderates,  commonly  called  the  Geronde  party,  for  want  of  faith 
in  Christianity :  the  most  prominent  characters  of  which  were  Condor- 
cet,  Brissot,  Lafayette,  Thomas  Paine,  etc.  Religion,  in  fact,  has 
been  the  hobby-horse  of  tyrants  in  all  ages  and  in  all  countries  ;  and 
mankind  have  too  easily  been  gulled  by  their  hollow  pretensions.  In 
the  practice  of  monarchs  professing  Christianity,  we  do  not  perceive 
the  humble,  charitable,  forgiving  spirit  recommended  by  its  benevolent 
founder.  These  virtues,  they  seem  to  think,  do  not  properly  belong  to 
them.  They  must  be  arrogant,  proud,  and  vindictive ;  and  the  most 
appropriate  ensigns  of  their  escutcheon  would  be  a  bloody  cross,  sup- 
ported by  deaths-heads  and  cross-bones. 

An  Abstract  of  "  A  Defence  of  Masonry ;  " 
Occasioned  by  a  Pamphlet  called  Masonry  Dissected."    London,  1730. 

This  pamphlet  is  that  written  by  Samuel  Prichard,  and  made  use 
of  in  this  volume. — The  Defence  was  published  by  Dr.  Anderson,  and 
appended  to  his  History  of  the  Constitutions  of  freemasons.  The 
author,  though  probably  a  member  of  the  masonic  society,  would  wish 
to  make  it  appear,  that  he  drew  all  his  information  of  it  from  the  work 
he  pretends  to  answer. 

»♦  I  was  exceedingly  pleased  (says  he)  to  find  the  Dissector  lay  the 
original  scene  of  masonry  in  the  East,  a  country  always  famous  for 
symbolical  learning  supported  by  secrecy.  I  could  not  avoid  immedi- 
ately  thinking  of  the  Egyptians,  who  concealed  the  chief  mysteries  of 
their  religion  under  signs  and  symbols,  called  hieroglyphics. 

•'  Pythagoras,  by  travelling  into  Egypt,  became  instructed  in  the 
mysteries  of  that  nation  ;  and  here  he  laid  the  foundation  of  all  his 
symbolical  learning.  The  several  writers  that  have  mentioned  this 
philosopher,  and  given  an  account  of  his  sect  and  institutions,  have 


A    DEFENCE    OF    MASOPIRT.  39^, 

convinced  me  fully,  that  freemasonry,  as  published  by  the  Dissector, 
is  very  nearly  allied  to  the  old  Pythagorean  discipline ;  from  vi^hence^ 
I  am  persuaded,  it  may  in  some  circumstances,  very  justly  claim  its 
descent."  Here  the  author  details  some  of  the  leading  doctrines  and 
customs  of  the  Pythagoreans,  in  proof  of  his  opinion ;  which  have 
been  before  noticed.  After  mentioning  some  other  sects  whose  prac- 
tices corresponded,  he  says,  in  many  particulars  with  those  of  the 
fraternity,  he  adds,  "  The  last  instance  I  shall  mention,  is  that  of  the 
Druids  of  our  own  nation,  who  were  the  only  priests  of  the  ancient 
Britons.  In  their  solemnities  they  were  clothed  in  white ;  and  their 
ceremonies  always  ended  with  a  good  feast." 

*'  The  number  three  is  frequently  mentioned  in  the  Dissection ; 
and  I  find  that  the  ancients,  both  Greeks  and  Latins,  professed  a  great 
veneration  for  that  number.  Theocritus  thus  introduces  a  person  who 
dealt  in  secret  arts : 

"  '  Thrice,  thrice  I  pour,  and  thrice  repeat  my  charms ! 
Verbaque  ter  dixit :  Thrice  he  repeats  the  worda.    (Ovid.) 
Three  colors  m  three  knots  unite.'     (Virg.) 

•'  Whether  this  fancy  owes  its  original  to  the  esteem  the  Pythagore- 
ans and  other  philosophers  had  for  the  number  three,  on  account  of 
their  triad  or  trinity ;  or  to  its  aptness  to  signify  the  power  of  all  the 
gods,  who  were  divided  into  three  classes,  celestial,  terrestrial  and 
infernal ;  I  shall  leave  to  be  determined  by  others. 

••  The  gods  had  a  particular  esteem  for  this  number,  as  Virgil 
asserts : 

'• '  Numero  Deus  impare  gaudet.'  Unequal  numbers  please  the 
gods.  The  sons  of  Saturn,  among  whom  the  world  was  divided,  were 
three  :  and  for  the  same  reason  we  read  of  Jupiter's  Fulmen  trifiduntf 
or  three-forked  thunderbolt ;  and  Neptune's  trident,  with  several  other 
tokens  of  the  veneration  they  bore  to  this  particular  number. 

•'  A  particular  ceremony  belonging  to  the  oath,  as  declared  by  the 
Dissector,  bears  a  near  relation  to  a  form  of  swearing  among  the 
ancients,  mentioned  by  a  learned  author.  The  person  who  took  the 
oath  was  to  be  upon  his  bare  knees,  with  a  naked  sword  pointed  to  his 
throaty  invoking  the  sun,  moon,  and  stars  to  be  witnesses  to  the  truth 
of  what  he  swore."     (Alex,  ab  Alexandro,  Lib.  V.  cap,  10.) 

"  The  accident,  by  which  the  body  of  Master  Hiram  was  found" 
after  his  death,  seems  to  allude  in  some  circumstances,  to  a  beautiful 
passage  in  the  sixth  book  of  Virgil's  Eneid."  The  author  here  recites 
the  story  of  the  golden  hough,  as  being  a  necessary  passport  for  Eneas's 
descent  inta  the  infernal  regions,  and  adds : 


400  R08YCRUCIAN    DEORfiE. 

"  Anchises,  the  great  preserver  of  the  Trojan  name,  could  not  have 
been  discovered  but  by  the  help  of  a  hough,  which  was  plucked  with 
great  ease  from  the  tree;  nor,  it  seems,  could  Hiram,  the  grand  Master 
of  masonry,  have  been  found  but  by  the  direction  of  a  shrub,  which, 
says  the  Dissector,  came  easily  up.  The  principal  cause  of  Eneas's 
descent  into  the  shades,  was  to  inquire  of  his  father  the  secrets  of  the 
fates,  which  should  sometime  be  fulfilled  among  his  posterity:  the 
occasion  of  the  brethrtnU  searching  so  diligently  for  their  master  was, 
it  seems,  to  receive  from  him  the  secret  word  of  masonry,  which 
should  be  delivered  down  to  their  fraternity  in  after  ages.  This 
remarkable  verse  follows : 

"The  body  of  your  friend  lies  neat  yoii  dead,  Alas,  you  know  not 
how  !-^This  was  Misenus,  that  was  murdered  and  buried,  Monte  sub 
aerio,  under  a  high  hill ;  as,  says  the  Dissector,  master  Hiram  was. 

•'  But  there  is  another  story  in  Virgil,  that  stands  in  a  nearer  rela- 
tion to  the  case  of  Hiram,  and  the  accident  by  which  he  is  said  to  have 
been  discovered;  which  is  this:  Priamus,  king  of  Troy,  in  the  begin- 
ning of  the  Trojan  war,  committed  his  son  Polydorus  to  the  care  of 
Polymnestor,  king  of  Thrace,  and  sent  with  him  a  great  sum  of 
money;  but  after  Troy  was  taken,  the  Thracian,  for  the  sake  of  the 
money,  killed  the  young  prince,  and  privately  buried  him.  Eneas 
coming  into  that  country,  and  accidentally  plucking  up  a  shrub  that 
was  near  him  on  the  side  of  a  hill,  discovered  the  murdered  body  of 
Polydt>rus.     Eneid,  HI. 

"  By  Dryden : 

'"Not  far  a  rising  hillock  stood  in  view, 
Sharp  myrtles  on  tne  sides  and  cornels  grew; 
There  while  I  went  to  crop  the  Sylvan  scenes, 
And  shade  our  altars  with  the  leafy  greens, 
I  puU'd  a  plant :  with  horror  I  relate 
A  prodigy  so  strange  and  full  of  fate! 
Scarce  dare  I  tell  the  sequel !  from  the  womb 
Of  wounded  earth,  and  caverns  of  the  tomb, 
A  groan,  as  of  a  troubled  ghost,  renew'd 
My  fright;  and  then  these  dreadful  words  ensued: 
Why  oost  thou  thus  my  buried  body  rend  '? 
O  spare  the  corpse  of  thy  unhappy  friend !' 

*•  The  agreement  between  these  two  relations  is  so  exact,  that  there 
wants  no  further  illustration." 

Rosycruciath  Degree. 

I  have  lately  noticed  that  some  writers,  (and  particularly  William 
L.  Stone,  Esq.,  who  is  the  author  of  a  very  interesting  work  on  free- 


-      "  ROSYCRUCIAN    DEGREE.  401 

masonry,)  have  conjectured  that  this  institution  sprung  from  the 
famous  society  of  Rosycrucians,  I  will,  therefore,  hero  add  a  short 
account  of  that  association,  as  well  as  of  the  masonic  degree  founded 
upon  it. 

"  The  Rosycrucians,  that  is  to  say,  brothers  of  the  Rosy-Cross, 
were, says  Bailey,  a  sect  or  cabal  of  hermetical  philosophers;  who  bound 
themselves  together  by  a  solemn  secret,  which  they  swore  inviolably  to 
observe,  and  obliged  themselves,  at  their  admission  into  the  order,  to  a 
strict  observance  of  certain  established  rules.  Their  chief  was  a  Ger- 
man gentleman  educated  in  a  monastery,  where,  having  learned  the 
languages,  he  travelled  to  the  holy  land,  Armo  1378,  and  being  at 
Damascus,  and  falling  sick,  he  had  the  conversation  of  some  Arabs  and 
other  oriental  philosophers,  by  whom  he  is  supposed  to  be  initiated  into 
this  mysterious  art.  At  his  return  into  Germany,  he  formed  a  society, 
and  communicated  to  them  the  secrets  he  had  brought  with  him  out  of 
the  East, 

"  They  pretended  to  know  all  sciences,  and  especially  medicine,  of 
which  they  published  themselves  the  restorers ;  they  also  pretended  to 
be  masters  of  abundance  of  important  secrets ;  and  among  others  that 
of  the  philosopher's  stone ;  all  which  they  affirmed  they  had  received 
by  tradition  from  the  ancient  Egyptians,  Chaldeans,  the  Magi,  and 
Gymnosophists.  They  pretended  to  protract  the  period  of  human  life 
by  means  of  certain  nostrums,  and  even  to  restore  youth.  They  pre- 
tended to  know  all  things  ;  they  are  also  called  the  invisible  Brothers, 
because  they  have  made  no  appearance,  but  have  kept  themselves 
incognito  for  many  years. 

"  This  society  is  frequently  signified  by  the  letters  F.  R.  C,  Fra- 
ires  Roris  Cocti,  it  being  pretended  that  the  matter  of  the  philosopher's 
stone  is  dew,  concocted  and  exhaled." 

The  mystical  importance  which  this  society  had  obtained,  rendered 
it  a  fit  subject  for  the  manufacturers  of  masonic  degrees  to  found  an 
order  upon,  which,  therefore,  was  not  neglected. 

The  Rosycrucian  degree  seems,  in  Carlile's  report,  to  be  confounded 
with  that  of  the  Knights  of  the  Eagle,  and  Sovereign  Prince  of  Rose- 
Cross,  before  noticed.  The  subject  of  both  is  the  death  and 
resurrection  of  the  Saviour.  The  master  bears  the  same  title  in  each 
In  the  latter  he  is  said  allegorically  to  represent  the  person  of  Wisdom 
and  Perfection,  which  gives  him  the  title  of  most  wise  and  perfect  mas- 
ter. The  wardens  are  styled  most  excellent  and  perfect.  The  other 
officers  most  puissant  and  perfeii  brothers.     The  brethren  are  called 

51 


402  ROSYCRITCIAN    DEGREE. 

most  respectable  and  perfect  masons.  The  allegory  of  the  pelican 
forms  a  part  of  both  degrees:  The  Jewel  of  that  of  the  Rosycrucian  is 
a  triangle  formed  by  a  compass  and  a  quarter  of  a  circle.  In  the  cen- 
ter is  a  cross,  upon  which  is  a  rose,  and  upon  the  quarter  of  the  circle 
is  a  pelican,  bleeding  to  feed  her  young.  The  Jewel  is  tied  to  a  black 
rose,  and  pendant  to  a  black  collar,  in  the  first  point,  and  to  a  crimson  in 
the  second. 

The  decorations  of  the  lodge,  in  the  principal  apartment,  are  first,  a 
triangular  altar  on  seven  steps.  Behind  it  is  a  large  transparency, 
with  a  cross  and  a  rose  painted  on  its  middle,  and  this  inscription  over 
it,  "  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  the  King  of  the  Jews."  Broken  columns  are 
visible  on  one  side  of  the  transparency,  and  a  tomb  on  the  other  in  the 
east,  with  three  large  lights  in  the  west. — Jam  satis. 

The  Rosycrucian  society  is  of  a  very  different  cast  from  that  of 
ancient  freemasonry,  which  bears  the  most  palpable  marks  of  a  descent 
from  an  institutipn  established  anterior  to  the  Christian  era. 

In  concluding  my  work,  I  repeat  that  the  freemasons'  society  was 
founded  for  the  purpose  of  concealing  the  rites  of  the  ancient  pagan 
religion,  under  the  cover  of  operative  masonry;  and  that,  although  the 
religion  is  extinct,  its  ceremonials  remain,  and  clearly  develope  the 
origin  of  the  institution.  Sabeism,  or  the  worship  of  the  stars,  is  con- 
spicuous in  every  grade  of  the  order:  the  frequent  quotations  from  the 
bible  betray  its  religious  cast,  and,  moreover,  confirm,  what  has  before 
been  advanced,  that  the  forms  of  prayer,  and  consequently  other  acts  of 
devotion  among  the  Pagans  and  Hebrews,  were  delivered  in  the  same 
terms,  tho  applied  to  different  objects. 

The  ceremonies  of  masonry,  however,  by  no  means  impeach  the 
morality  it  inculcates,  which  is  iinexceptionable,  whatever  may  have 
been  the  conduct  of  some  of  its  deluded  members,  impelled  by  a  fanati- 
cal zeal  for  the  preservation  of  its  supposed  secrets,  or  whatever  inno- 
vations may  have  been  introduced  by  aspiring,  political  demagogues, 
adverse  to  the  established  principles  of  the  order.  But  at  the  same 
time,  it  must  be  confessed,  that  its  moral  precepts  are  conveyed  in  a 
style  mal  a  propos  at  the  present  day.  Moral  action  can  now  be  taught 
without  the  aid  of  the  Mosaic  or  Musajc  pavement,  the  tesseled  bor" 
der,  the  square,  the  compass,  the  bee-hive,  the  plumb-line,  etc.  And 
as  to  any  useful  art  or  science,  about  which  great  parade  is  still  made 
in  masonic  books,  nothing  of  the  kind  is  now  practised  in  lodges. 
Among  the  ancient  ignorant,  operative  masons,  a  little  instruction  in 
the  rudiments  of  learning,  including  rough  architecture,  were,  no  doubt' 


ROSYCRTJCIAN    DEGREE.  403 

given ;  but  operative  freemasonry  has  been  abandoned  for  upwards  of 
one  hundred  years,  and  no  more  of  it  remains  to  the  order  than  the 
record  of  its  former  practice. 

I  will  close  the  volume  with  the  following  apposite  remarks  of 
Dupius,  applied  to  the  original  school,  from  which  masonry  received 
its  lessons. 

The  author,  after  giving  a  specimen  of  the  extravagant  and  absur4 
cosmogonies  of  different  nations,  observes: 

"  We  will  not  pursue  farther  the  parallel  of  all  the  philosophical 
opinions  which  each  of  the  mystagogues  has  delivered  in  his  own 
manner.  We  confine  ourselves  to  this  example,  which  is  sufficient  tq 
give  an  idea  of  the  allegorical  genius  of  the  ancient  sages  of  the  east, 
and  to  justify  the  use  which  we  have  made  of  the  philosophical  dogmas 
that  are  known  to  us,  to  discover  the  sense  of  these  monstrous  fictions 
of  oriental  mysticism.  This  manner  of  instructing  men,  or  rather  of 
imposing  upon  them  under  the  pretext  of  instruction,  is  as  far  removed 
from  our  customs  as  hieroglyphics  are  from  our  writing,  and  as  the 
style  of  the  sacred  science  is  from  the  philosophy  of  our  days.  But 
such  was  the  language  that  was  held  to  the  initiates,  says  the  author  of 
the  Phenician  cosmogony,  in  order  to  excite  in  mortals  astonishment 
and  admiration." 


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